TrAvELLErS’ TALES

from Felpham In Focus April 2023

LOCAL HISTOry

By KIM LESLIE

Fed up with roads today – pot holes, road works, traffic jams and congestion? Just consider the trials and tribulations facing the 18th Century traveller.

Sussex had such a bad name, all because of its terrible roads. One 18th Century author wrote that it’s ‘extreamly dirty, insomuch that it is better measured by days Journies than by Miles. Hence it is, that in the Order for regulating the wages of Stage-Coachmen at such a Price and distance from London, Sussex was excepted, as deserving better Pay for shorter way …’

In 1703, King Charles of Spain made his way to Petworth House on Christmas day. One of his retinue recorded his nightmare journey: daniel defoe, best known for his novel robinson Crusoe, was even more astonished on seeing a lady travelling near Lewes in the 1720s – and ‘a lady of very good quality’, he assures us –going to church in a coach drawn, not by elegant horses, but six oxen, ‘the way being so stiff and deep’, a sight he’d never seen in any other part of England.

‘… we set out … by torchlight and did not get out of the coaches, save only when we were overturned or stuck fast in the mud, till we arrived at our journey’s end. ’Twas hard service for the Prince to sit fourteen hours in the coach that day, without eating anything, and passing through the worst ways that I ever saw in my life; we were thrown but once indeed in going – in returning they were overturned twice; but both our coach … and his Highness’s … would have suffered very often, if the nimble boors of Sussex had not frequently poised it, or supported it with their shoulders, from Godalming almost to Petworth; and the nearer we approached the duke’s house, the more unaccessible it seemed to be. The last nine miles of the way cost us six hours time to conquer them …’.

That’s just one-and-a-half miles an hour, and for a member of royalty at that, when everything possible would have been done to ease the journey. rich or poor, king or commoner, everyone travelled around Sussex at their peril.

Travellers’ tales were infamous: coaches abandoned in deep ruts, broken axles, passengers pitched into hedges, injuries, even death quite common, all of which help explain Horace walpole’s lament: ‘The roads grew bad beyond badness … If you love good roads … be so kind as never to go into Sussex. Sussex is a great damper of curiosity.’

Even a hundred years later, road conditions in victorian Sussex were still hazardous and slow. Bognor’s stage coach to London, The Comet (hence Comet Corner at Middleton), left Bognor at 6.45 in the morning, arriving at 5 in the afternoon, taking 10 hours and 15 minutes for a distance of 66 miles, giving an average speed of just six-and-a-half miles an hour. Ponder the past when grumbling about the present!

To contact FELPHAM IN FOCUS please email: office@infocusmagazines.co.uk

Are you GoinG AWAy on hoLiDAy this suMMer?

A lot of my clients are going away on holiday this summer for the first time since the Covid Pandemic struck. I thus seem to be having a lot of conversations recently with my clients about ensuring their affairs are in order before they go away.

who would look after your children, your parents or even the animals if something awful were to happen? Just because you are married does not mean your spouse has authority to deal with your affairs, if you become incapacitated. These are the things I am finding myself saying to clients regularly at the moment.

whilst I really hope we all get the opportunity to have a great summer holiday and it is horrible to have to think about what we would do if things go wrong, it is really important to get your affairs in order before you go travelling either in this country or abroad.

If you already have a will in place I am very happy to review it with you, free of charge. If you have not already officially authorised anyone to deal with your affairs, (should you become incapacitated) under a Lasting Power of Attorney, then I am as equally happy, free of charge, to talk you through the pros and cons of having such an arrangement in place.

ALL initial meetings are free of charge. In the office, home visits and video meetings can all be accommodated. All fees, if you decide to provide me with any instructions, are fixed. I look forward to hearing from you.

Call the office for a no obligation appointment to find out more details. don’t forget I can also help you with:- wills and Trusts - Inheritance Tax - Care Fees Planning

Probate- Administration of Estates

Helen Gagan Solicitor ……. listening to her clients

Felpham Chambers, 60 Felpham road, Felpham, Bognor regis, west Sussex, PO22 7NZ

Office telephone number: 01243 867330 Mobile: 07584 991081

Email: helen@helengagansolicitor.co.uk www.helengagansolicitor.co.uk

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ME AN d M y d OG

By KATE STEwArT

Thank you to everyone who has sent in their dog stories and pictures for our new Me and My dog series. This month we are featuring In Focus readers Ann and Heidi from North Bersted and Kim and Cody from Felpham. Please keep sending in your pictures and 250-word stories – we love reading them.

KIM ANd COdy

My name is Kim Brown and I have a French Bulldog named Cody. Two and a half years ago Cody had an accident. He stepped down a hidden rabbit hole which caused a disc in his back to explode and after an MrI and surgery he was unable to use his back legs so now he uses wheels.

Cody used to go training with our other French Bulldog, Lexi, but after surgery was he unable to go but would look at me as though I was a traitor when I took Lexi to her class. So I asked if Cody could return to his class as he loved training and the response was “why not?”

As a consequence, last summer Cody passed his Kennel Club Gold Good Citizens award and regularly competes in Talking dogs rally Competitions against able bodied dogs. He has an amazing personality and courage. I hope you have enjoyed reading about him, it is so easy to write dogs off because they are disabled.

ANN ANd HEIdI we have been together 13 years and she came from a Labrador rescue in Ireland. we have done training and agility in the past when we were both younger! we have made lots of friends over the years and the local people we meet on our walks Heidi always greets with her ‘helicopter’ tail. It literally goes around in circles especially if they have treats for her! we also do volunteer dog walking for the Cinnamon Trust where we take dogs for a walk for their older owners who can no longer take their dogs out for a variety of reasons. Heidi is very happy to walk with a dog she doesn’t know, she is a great help and we all become friends. One of the dogs we looked after recently had a lovely lady owner who was 105, when she sadly died we looked after her little dog on long-term foster until the Cinnamon Trust found her a happy, forever home.

My Labrador/Terrier cross Heidi is a lovely girl and the light of my life, she is such a happy dog and quite an energetic girl despite being around 15-years-old. I named her Heidi as I love the Heidi books. Heidi tells me when it’s time for her three walks each day which keeps us both fit and maybe a bit younger!

Heidi looks like a short-legged Labrador and she has the gentle Labrador personality. She has several beds and likes to be in the one I have in my yoga room while I do my practice in the morning, she also has a ‘firework’ bed in the bathroom where she hides if there are any loud noises!

I know she is getting older so I treasure every day we are together and no holidays are planned this year as we both are happy being at home.

To contact FELPHAM IN FOCUS please email: office@infocusmagazines.co.uk

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