Living in the 50s and 60s in Rye there was a close community of people living in council housing estates. We all knew each other and pulled together even when things went wrong, knowing each other but never in people’s pockets, we all pulled together and got on with each other.
My memories include many good times playing cricket in the road and hide and seek in the middle field. We were never indoors and we always had something to do. Life was simple before computers, instead of gazing at a screen for hours we went to dances, not discos but live bands playing real music in the dance halls. The girls danced on their own while the boys went to the pubs with friends, and had a few drinks to give themselves a little Dutch courage so they could dance with the girl who caught their eye.
I met my wife by going to the dance at Wittersham community hall. There were dances almost every week at many local venues including Tenterden, Wittersham, Rolvenden, Stone, Appledore, Camber, Iden and Winchelsea Beach. Live entertainment was provided by local pop groups including The Sapphires ,The Concords, The Vampires and The Hippo band.
They were all excellent and later on another group called The Rhythm Doctors came onto the scene, taking the place by storm. Unfortunately, there was many a time when a fight would break out and, on one occasion at Iden Village Hall, the Iden Twist Club got out of hand and the police became involved. The culprits were caught and charged with ABH, (causing Actual Bodily Harm) and affray and given a custodial sentence of 3 months detention.
In the 1960s, 70s and 80s our darts league involved local pubs bringing even more people together. Pubs like the Pipemakers Arms, the Ferry Boat Inn, The Queens Head, The Globe The Bedford (now Cricketers) and many more hostelries out of town brought the wider community together.
The community was still the same but we seemed to grow up quickly what with attending youth club and playing pop music, records and girl friends, going to the pubs with friends and also dances at the weekend where I met and later married a lovely Tenterden girl.
During the 80s and 90s, the community as we knew it seemed to be dying off, as everybody was really doing their own thing so as soon as we realised what was going on we decided to make a change.
Two large local families and some friends got together and held a disco and threw some parties including a New Year’s Eve fancy dress party which I remember only too well.
Consequently for the next 13 years we enjoyed a summer disco and New Year’s Eve parties. Each year the community centre was packed to capacity by us all and the New Year’s Eve party was always fancy dress. We all got together and organised a raffle and food and the raffle money went to a worthy local charity. Thankfully our efforts were not in vain and those disco dances brought the community back together again.
The bar was put together by the local branch of the Royal British Legion which they did on most occasions and these memorable parties were very popular and the talk of the town for days afterwards.
The last family and friends party was in 2000, the Millennium, which again was very successful. I remember about 200 different coloured balloons were inflated across the community centre in a net and released on the dot at midnight. Unfortunately after each party the worst part was clearing up afterwards and walking home at 2.30 am!
Such good memories which I wanted to share with you. Let’s not allow the community spirit to die down. Now more than ever and with all that is going on in the world we need to pull together, keep our local communities alive and look out for one another. As the saying goes, you only live once, let’s make the most of it.
Image Credits: Vic Vicarey .
Thanks for a wonderful nostalgic read, Vic! I lived in Guestling Green during the mid-late 60’s (my dad Peter ran the Hope Inn). I went to Rye Secondary Modern, then onto Thomas Peacocke when it became a Comprehensive school. Happy memories of ‘dances’, as you so rightly called them, in the various village halls. Klondike is one group that I can recall. I think records may have been played during the breaks as I can definitely remember slow dancing to A Whiter Shade of Pale with a boy who was much taller than me (being 4’10” this was always the case!). The freedom of thumbing lifts along the main roads – unheard of now, and probably risky at the time but we were very lucky.
I consider myself very fortunate to have grown up in those times, as we had so much more independence.
I also think we were fortunate growing up in those times. Your post brought back so many memories of those times. I also can remember when the group took a break and the disco played A Whiter Shade Of Pale and couples slow dancing to it. Lovely uncomplicated times. Thanks for bringing back so many lovely memories.
I can remember the dances at Wittersham village hall. It was a good place for teenagers to meet each other. The last one I attended a fight broke out between a group of young motorcyclists and some older trouble makers. I had never seen anything like it before, fortunately for me a young lady grabbed me by the arm and pulled me out of the way of it all.