Your Thanet! Can you help complete Ann Solly's St. Peters??
To begin this series, we're focusing on the memories on a wonderful lady named Ann Solly. Having been my neighbor for over 23 years(!!) now, Ann has dedicated hours to this project, inviting me over to reminisce her past, offering me books and articles and going out of her way to solve any small mysteries I came across.
In gratitude, I am dedicating this first post in the series to a certain resource she created.
As long as I (and my dad!) have been growing up, Ann has lived next door with her husband, Mick. As far as I was concerned, Ann had always been a woman of Ramsgate, however during this project it was revealed to me that her childhood was actually spent in Broadstairs and St Peters - and that is where this blog post took inspiration!
The photograph to the left shows Ann and Mick at Ramsgate seafront in the mid 1960's. A significant amount of emails and photographs relating to the aforementioned seafront have referred to Sunbeam Photography.
SUNBEAM PHOTOGRAPHY
Sunbeam was a Margate photography company established by John Milton Worssell just after WWI. The business proved fruitful, and Frederick Pettman (who then owned trading rights, but would eventually become Mayor of Margate) offered to fund the business's growth. With their new lab under their wing, Sunbeam flooded along the Kent coast, and during peak season would employ an incredible 300 people (selfie, anyone?).
A car would transfer negatives to a Sunbeam lab, and the following day holidaymakers and locals alike could collect their photographs (using their reference numbers) from their local kiosk.
If anyone has any Sunbeam photographs, information or memories - please send them across!!
Ann's St Peters - Can you help??
One afternoon in July, Ann called across our adjoining garden hedge and summoned me to her dining room table. Here I was presented with two A5 pages of notes, detailing St Peters as she remembers it from her childhood. For the most part, it would seem an exceedingly comprehensive list, however there are gaps with store names, smaller streets and information on the residents/ businessmen themselves!
ST. PETERS
"Housing estate had Christmas parties in the Bus Station which is now an MOT testing center- before that D.C. Homeward electricals"
Church Street
Stevensons - Grocer
Blacksmith
Dairy
Gregory's - Garage and Petrol
Felgates - Bakery
Farm - Cows (now village green)
Vyes - Grocer
High Street
Warrens - Butcher
St Peters Boys School
Post Office
Lloyds Bank
Stables
Horns - Chalks - Crayons etc
Creasy's - Sausages/ Provisions
Chemist
Round-A-Bout
No longer there
Hazels - Butcher (now bicycle shop)
Bon Bon - Sweet shop
Bings - shoes and Boots
Walkers - Bread/ Cake/ Provisions
Julie's - School Shop
Fish and Chip shop
High Street Cont.
Arms Houses
Nuckells
"When open, try Graveyard Walk, War Graves Walk, St Peters Village Tour.
Locals acting - brilliant.
Has won awards"
If anyone can extend or elucidate on Ann's list, please email thiswasourthanet@outlook.com
Information on Sunbeam taken from: https://gohomeonapostcard.wordpress.com/companies/sunbeam/
For more information on the St Peters Village Tour, please see the upcoming blog on John Fullarton.