I want to take a few moments to mention Malcolm Foster.
Malcolm was a school chum who lived a few doors down the road from where I lived. We used to muck around in the village of Westfield, where we lived.
We went to school together, initially at Westfield’s own primary school, which was just a few minutes’ walk up our road. And then, later, joining the Cooks Coaches’ daily school run to Claverham County Secondary School at Battle.
At the weekends and in school holidays, it was breakfast and out. We would go exploring the countryside for miles around on our bikes. Occasionally, we would ride out to Brede village and its namesake river, with our fishing rods on the hunt for Roach, Perch, and eels. Our parents never knew where we were, and there were no mobile phones back then. No packed lunch, either. We might have scrumped a few apples, and I do remember sitting in a field of Kale chomping down on a few leafy stalks. I dread to think what might have been sprayed on those fields.
My father was the village bobby, and it was normal police practice to change officers’ assignments every couple of years or so. We had moved to Westfield from Lewes, and then sadly, our family had to move away from Westfield.
We didn’t move far, just to Battle. For me, it was just a few minutes’ walk from our new house to Claverham. But it did mean that I didn’t have the daily coach ride with Malcolm, and also, the ripple effect was that there were no after-school or weekend jaunts. So, inevitably, we drifted off into different social groups.
Over the years, we have communicated sporadically, but without the aid of current social media it was difficult.
So, although we didn’t remain close friends, I do have some happy memories.
And, from what I have been reading recently, Malcolm lived a full life with lots of friends.
RIP Malcolm Foster. My thoughts go out to all your friends and family.
Earlier this year I took a bit of a trip down memory lane and somehow ended up in the Sussex village of Brede. Now Brede is just a couple of miles up the road from my home in Westfield, another Sussex village. My mates and I used to take off on our bikes, with our fishing rods, and spend the day along the banks of the Brede River. What we never knew was, that less than half a mile away, as the crow flies, there were giants !!!
Of course, these aren’t the mythological giants of legend. These giants are of the steam variety. As pre-teenage kids we were totally unaware of the wonders that were working so hard just a short distance away.
The “giants” were two Tangye engines with their associated pumps which were installed in 1904, and a third manufactured by Worthington Simpson , added in 1940. All three units operated until the end of steam in 1964.
Brede Water Works – Giant
Brede Water Works – Giant
Brede Water Works – Giant
Brede Water Works – Guages
Brede Water Works – Giant Steam Engine
Brede Water Works
Brede Water Works
Brede Water Works – One of the giant Steam Engines
Brede Water Works
Brede Water Works – One of the giants
Brede Water Works – One of the giants
Brede Water Works – Guages
Brede Water Works – Big Spanners
Brede Water Works
Brede Water Works – Take your pick
Brede Water Works – Home To Giants
Brede Water Works – Home To Giants
Brede Water Works – Home To Giants
The water, pumped by these giants, was drawn from large wells penetrating the rock (Ashdown Sandstone aquifer) beneath the River Brede. It was purified and then pumped into service reservoirs on The Ridge above Hastings for distribution by gravity via the pipe networks serving Hastings.
Of course, there is more here than just the “giant” steam engines. There are many other steam pumps and engines. Some were originally from this site. Others have been donated from further afield. The folks that work here are all volunteers and they work very hard to maintain a working display of this old technology.
Brede Water Works – Oil Cans
Brede Water Works
Brede Water Works
Brede Water Works
Brede Water Works
Brede Water Works
Brede Water Works
Brede Water Works
Brede Water Works
Brede Water Works
Brede Water Works
Brede Water Works
Brede Water Works
Brede Water Works
Brede Water Works
Brede Water Works
Also on this site there are artifacts from more recent years, from the time of the cold war. There is nuclear bunker, one of three built by Southern Water as an emergency control centre to become operational in the event of nuclear war. It was never completed and work on the bunker appears to have stopped in 1992.
Brede Water Works – Bunker
Brede Water Works – Bunker
Brede Water Works – Bunker
Brede Water Works – Bunker
Following our visit to Brede Water Works we headed up to Brede village for a bite to eat and not before long we were sat in the beer garden at the rear of the Red Lion pub.
The Red Lion is a family run 15th Century pub serving an interesting range of freshly cooked dishes. The menu features locally caught fish from Hastings & Rye, meat from Hastings, locally sourced & homegrown fruit & vegetables and wild mushrooms foraged in Brede High Woods.
Here I had one of the best seafood platters, ever. With some of the home made “Brede Bread” on the side.
Just round the corner from the Red Lion is St. Georges church.
St. Georges has quite a history. Here is just a short piece that I have quoted from their own website.
In about 1017, soon after his marriage to Emma of Normandy, King Canute granted a land called ‘Rammesleah’ to the Abbey at Fecamp in Normandy. Construction of the present church in around 1180 was probably funded by the Abbott of Fecamp. Until 1413 Brede remained under the domination of the Abbey and the parish was served by its Benedictine monks until ‘alien’ (foreign) priories were dissolved buring the reign of King Henry VIII.
The name of the village is first found in a charter of c1030 and comes from Olde English ‘bredu’ meaning breadth’ referring to the wide river to the south.
The River Brede later took it’s name from the village.
The Church is dedicated to St. George, probably a soldier martyred in Palestine in the early 4th century. Besides also being Patron Saint of England he is remembered above all for the legend of ‘St. George and the Dragon’. There is a window dedicated to him at the west end of the north aisle and a statue near the altar in the church. Very little of the earlier Norman building remains and the structure of the Church developed over a period of some 400 years from the 12th century onwards.
From the exterior, much of what one sees is 15th century Perpendicular architecture. The walls were built of local sandstone and ironstone. High on a buttress near the porch is a brass sundial dated 1826.
WrAnTz 