The Portslade Series

The Social Heart: John Goble’s Outing

• Ref No: IMG_0003.jpg

• Title: The Windmill Inn "Beano" Departure

• Photographer: Tubbs, Portslade

• Key Figures: John Goble (Publican/Greengrocer) and his accordion-playing companion with the dog.

• The Insight: This is the southern end of North Street near Copperas Gap. You can clearly see the "WINDMILL" and "J. COBLE" signs. This was the hub for the Gassies community. The horse-drawn charabanc on the right is being loaded with provisions from the local North Street shops—likely ham from Linfield’s Butcher and bread from Elphick’s Baker.
  
  Do you recognise these faces? We suspect the musical trio in the front may be brothers, and the gentleman in the light suit is likely the host, John Goble. If you have family ties to the Windmill Inn or the North Street Gassies, we'd love to hear from you.
  
  The musical trio at the front of the Windmill outing, featuring the accordionist and his dog, are likely the early incarnation of what would become the 'Gasco Rhythm Makers.'—they were the heartbeat of the 'Gassies' social scene for decades.

The music at the Gap wasn't just background noise; it was an institution. The button accordion (or melodeon) seen here was the precursor to the famous 'Gasco Rhythm Makers' band. These musicians, often part of the Lucas family, provided the soundtrack for the Gassies' lives—from the 'Beano' outings at the Windmill to the sports days at the rec."

 The "Gassies" at Play (Pre-War & Post-War)

• Ref No: IMG_0005.jpg (June 20, 1914) & IMG_0006.jpg (1921)

• Title: Portslade Gas Works Sports Day

• Photographer: Tubbs (1914) / Wiles Bros (1921)

• The Insight: Note the shift in seven years. The 1914 crowd is a sea of Edwardian boaters and Sunday best, just weeks before the outbreak of war. The 1921 shot, published by Wiles Bros, shows a post-war Portslade—still gathered in front of those familiar flint-and-brick walls, but with a different energy. These are the men who kept the retorts burning at the Works by the canal.

The Next Generation: The "Maypole" Infants

• Ref No: IMG_0004.jpg & IMG_0007.jpg

• Title: Maypole Class & Group Portrait

• Subject: Portslade Infants (likely the school near Old Village).

• The Insight: The chalkboard in IMG_0004 proudly reads "Maypole Infants." The flint-wall architecture is a classic Sussex school feature. These children were the daughters and sons of the Gassies; many would eventually grow up to work in the very buildings we see in the modern "sawtooth" photo.

• "The future 'Gassies' of the Gap. These infants, seen here with their Maypole, likely attended St Mary’s School on Victoria Road. While their fathers were at the Windmill or the Gas Works, these children were being raised in the heart of the Portslade-by-Sea industrial community. Note the beautiful Sussex flint-work in the background—a common sight in the Old Village, but here repurposed for the 'New' Portslade."

The "Sawtooth" Roof Lights

 

1. The Industrial Legacy

• Ref No: image_14dbe2.jpg

• Title: The Lancing Carriage Works (Modern Day View)

• Subject: Repurposed workshop showing the original "sawtooth" roof.

• The Insight: This building stands as a ghost of the 1912 Lancing "Fortress." While it now serves as a Brake's Autocentre and Wheatley's Accident Repair Centre, the North-facing window lights remain unchanged from the day Toby Cloke first walked past them.

Where the bus stops

A long view up North Road, the Pound Store came and went in a very short time in the space that F W Woolworth had occupied for 60 years. Next door to Boots the Chemist another long-established business in Lancing, Vantage pharmacy.

More cuttings from Derek Gorham

above: the modern view of Beach Green looking up towards South Street

below: newspaper cutting of an earlier view taken from old postcards

"Not much remains of the old skyline. This view  of the southern end of South-street, Lancing, taken from Beach Green, shows how much has changed in 50 or so years. The garage buildings in the foreground block the view up South-street, where shops and flats have replaced the taller buildings on the east side (above). Even newer flats can be seen on the extreme right of the modern Lancing. The old view shows, too, how much of South-street has been widened. Reclamation work has rid the green of pools of water which lay there until not so many years ago."

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 Above: recent view of Salt Lake cottages, the gardens have developed but the buildings have remained as they looked in the picture below.

The old order changes, Called Salt Lake in former days, this section of Freshbrook-road, Lancing, shows how tastes have changed. It is a change for the better, for with careful treatment the old cottages have taken on a new lease of life. The new bicycles in the old view (top) should help date the picture.

Concrete Blockade

Buried beneath Beach Green are almost 200 five-foot square concrete wartime anti-tank blocks.

They were part of the shore line defence system.They were too large to take off the site and so in 1946 it was decided to bury them and they have remained there ever since.

Historical 1946 view of wartime anti-tank blocks being buried at Beach Green, Lancing. The burial of these blocks helped raise the level of the green, which was previously a low-lying area prone to tidal flooding and part of the historical Widewater lagoon system.

View in 1946, image courtesy Bob Brown

Recently and controversially it was planned to have all the blocks dug out and crushed, they had begun to cause problems as the soil covering was eroding and exposing parts of the concrete to the surface.
The community formed an action committee and persuaded the council that a top dressing of re-seeded soil would be a better solution.

Modern view

.Shoreham Herald Article 13th May 2004