Report on S.E. England Social

[Terry Denham]

TinTin can't post messages on the Forum at the moment and so can't post a report personally but he thanks everyone for their interest and says he hopes to be back soon. He can read postings however. (His employers have played about with their PCs).

This will be the only report on this Pals event - because I was the only one who turned up to join TinTin. Well - on the right day that is!

The weather was very kind to us both as we met at 'Chip Shop Corner' in Eastbourne and we passed a happy 45 minutes chatting while waiting for any other Pals. This was followed by an excellent lunch of the the fish and chips which gave the location its name. (TinTin and I had failed to spot each other earlier at the bandstand rendezvous).

Afterwards we marched off briskly to the Redoubt and the military museum where we hoped to meet any late comers. It was not to be but we had a very interesting trip around the museum which we had almost to ourselves. I can thoroughly recommend the establishment particularly for those with an interest in the Royal Sussex Regt.

Although the day was not well supported (!), I would like to thank TinTin for both his company and his efforts in organising the day.

[Jonathan Saunders]

Actually Terry here is another report!

Tim Birch was at the Bandstand between 11 and 11:15 ... sadly I arrived at 11:16 (thanks to endless coaches slowing me down, a line painter (!) and difficulty finding somewhere to park, delaying my eta) and missed him. Neither of us saw any Baker Pals t-shirts or other distinguishing characteristics such as bearded men with a copy of Middlebrook's First day of the Somme under their arm.

Tim and Margaret did apparently go to the chipshop for lunch so I am not sure how you missed him ... I, on the other hand, did not know where lunch was and having loitered around the Bandstand for half an hour opted for Plan B and headed straight to the excellent Redoubt - which was well worth the entrance fee. I bumped into Tim as I came out about 14:10. Tim was then going to the redoubt for the 14:30 meeting but I was tired and hungry and headed for something to eat and somewhere to sit. I had thought the meet was earlier than 14:30 so had expected to cross with the rest of the party at the Redoubt before I left.

Both myself and Tim had posted yesterday to say we would be there, but I think I am right in saying that the only other postings were from those not going, hence my swift plan B option. Tim had a little more patience than me. I blame Tintin's employers.

However I would be happy to suggest a visit to the Royal Engineers museum at Gillingham and/or the Royal Naval Dockyard at Chatham in the coming months.

[Guest Ian Bowbrick]

Apologies once again guys, but domestic issues have to come first. If anyone ever wants to mmet upi at the PRO on a Saturday, we are getting quite a group of regulars.

Ian

[Terry Denham]

Signals

Good man. I knew you and Tim had intended to be there from your postings and informed TinTin of such as he has had no access to the Forum over the weekend.

The meet at the Redoubt was 14.30 and we arrived on the dot. We must have just missed you. There were so few people at the museum we could not have failed to bump into each other!

Still - as long as a good time was had by all.

TinTin will read these postings on Monday morning when he gets to work and so he will know that several Pals did turn up for parade.

[Jonathan Saunders]

I should have added I am sorry to have missed you both. Hopefully there will be a next time.

[Tim Birch]

Sorry to have missed TinTin and Terry.

Jon has posted an alternative story. There is yet a third story as follows:-

Got the right day this time! Margaret and I were a bit late reaching the bandstand at just before 11 am. We hung around by the entrance until 11:15 but saw no-one else apparantly waiting. Once again I accosted one or two strangers to see if they were Baker Pals, but again only got some rather alarmed or sad looks back!

We must have missed Jon by about a minute. We then went into the shopping centre were Margaret did a bit of shopping - it had been her intention to leave me with the others at the bandstand so that she could shop in peace!!

We went to the chip shop at 12.20 and sat outside drinking coffee right on the junction of Terminous Road with Grand Parade until just before 1:00 pm where we could observe the pedestrian crossing for anyone coming from the bandstand. Again no sign of anyone who appeared to looking for others, so we gave it up as a bad job and went into the Town for a pub lunch.

After lunch I left Margaret to get on with some shopping in peace and walked along the sea front where I met Jon, who told me about just missing us at the bandstand. He had already visited the Redoubt having finally tired of being on his own since the morning and having assumed that no-one else was turning up. After a chat with Jon I carried on to the Redoubt arriving at 2:25 pm at the same as Alan Seymour! We introduced ourselves to each other and having bought tickets waited until about 2:35 to see if any others turned up before going into the Museum. Alan knows Terry, but amazingly we did not meet up with him or TinTin inside!

Altogether a bit of a disasterous day with 4 separate groups or individuals narrowly missing each other!

I think the moral to be learnt from this is that for future meets we should have some form of identification, and ideally cell phone numbers...

No doubt Alan will post the forth story of events from his angle!

Tim

[Tim Birch]

Just to add a bit more about the excellent Redoubt Museum. Alan and I had a long chat with the man selling the entrance tickets and he told us that it is due to be closed down soon. It seems that Eastbourne Borough Council who own the Redoubt can no longer afford the upkeep of the building.

The asphalt covering the roofs is cracked and in poor condition and there is a lot of evidence of damp penetration internally. He also said that staffing costs have become too much and that much of this is carried out by volunteers.

The contents of the museum are not owned by the Borough Council and it is not known what will happen to them, whether they are split up and donated to other museums, put into some store to be forgotten or even sold off.

It will be a terrible pity if this excellent collection is lost. So to those of you who have never visited the Redoubt, I urge you to do so soon and before the museum closes permananently.

Tim

[Guest Hill 60]

Just to add a bit more about the excellent Redoubt Museum. Alan and I had a long chat with the man selling the entrance tickets and he told us that it is due to be closed down soon. It seems that Eastbourne Borough Council who own the Redoubt can no longer afford the upkeep of the building.

Tim - That is awful news!

I have been a few times over the years and found it a wonderful museum with some tremendous exhibits.

I took Jean there in 2001, during a week at Selsey. She was really taken by the place and wants to go again, looks like we'll have to go sooner rather than later!

There is a great story concerning our visit to the Redoubt, but Jean would skin me alive, boil me in my own blood and feed me to the hounds if I tell it

[Alan Seymour]

There's nothing I can add to Tim's report except that before going into the museum we did leave a message with the man selling the entrance tickets that we were both inside.

We spent I suppose close on an hour looking around this interesting museum and apart from a couple of other visitors we had the place to ourselves. We did on a couple of occasions pop out to the shop just to see if any others had arrived but we were told none had. So as Tim says it's amazing that we didn't see Terry and 'TinTin'.

This was my first visit to this museum which I found of great interest plenty of interesting items to see, it certainly deserves another visit now I know what's there. As Tim has mentioned the museum is in danger of being closed which is mainly due to the cost of upkeep of the Redoubt paid for by the local council. This seems to be their only cost as the rest is carried out by volunteers? So closing it in my mind is false economy, they will still have the upkeep of the building to maintain as there must be a preservation order on it?

There’s a lot of regimental and personal history to be seen there. Surely the council must be able to obtain a 'Lottery Grant' to help with the upkeep of the building? It certainly deserves one, more so than some of the other concerns that receive lottery money these days! My view is the council are just using this as an excuse just to close the museum so they can dispose of the building to a private concern?

At the end of the day if the museum does close I hope that contents are not split up, sold off or even packed away and put into storage. It needs a permanent new home, ‘Newhaven Fort’ in Sussex would make an ideal location.

Finally it was nice to meet Tim on Sunday it's always nice to put a face to a name.

Alan

[Terry Denham]

Alan

It baffles me that we didn't meet as well!

TinTin (Ian) and I sat on the railings outside the entrance for 35 minutes waiting for someone to turn up with me saying, "Don't worry, I know what Alan and Signals look like." I even checked in the museum foyer for lurking Pals before perching on the railings! It was all a bit deja vu as we had already leaned on the railings outside Chip Shop Corner for 45 minutes with no success.

The chap behind the ticket desk was very friendly but did not mention anything about a stream of visitors all looking for each other!

We finally entered the museum just after 3pm and stayed until closing time at 4.30pm and I think we were the last out.