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Uncle George was among town's entertainers
Donkey rides were another popular way to enjoy the seafront
by Sylvia Endacott
TODAY, Bognor Regis has a number of regular summer seaside events, which are widely advertised to encourage visitors to the resort.
This was not always the case, however. From the 1870s for many years, the entertainment provided was very homegrown, and, in fact, the whole town ‘would close down’ so everyone could enjoy all the activities, which would include rowing competitions, greasy pole and tug of war events.
A performer called Uncle George entertained the crowds from 1897 to 1928 near to the west end of Marine Gardens. His real name was Augustus Sears and his own open-air seaside entertainment was always very popular.
Uncle George came to Bognor after a successful seven-year career in Margate. He brought with him a troupe of artistes known as ‘The Thespians’ who could be found entertaining the crowds near Park Road, in their distinctive uniforms of green blazers and straw boaters.
If you have ever been to a theatre to see the show Cavalcade, written by Noel Coward, it contains a seaside revue, which it is claimed was actually based on Uncle George and his seaside entertainers.
Seaside entertainment consisted of many different styles, including the Dazzle concerts that would regularly visit the concert party premises at the Olympian Gardens, which was situated at the seaward end of Lennox Street. Some of the shows here included the Pierrots, and one of the very popular visiting groups was Walter Howard’s Gay Cadets. How time and words change!
Eventually, this venue was closed in 1930 and the site was occupied by the new company – Butlin’s Recreation Shelter. Following the success of the various shows, they eventually moved to the newly popular Esplanade Theatre, which opened in 1939, where many famous stars started to tread the boards before gaining stardom.
The Alexandra Theatre fills this role today, but many entertainers now have their apprenticeship at holiday camps or on cruise ships before ‘hitting the big time.’ Unless, of course, they become instant stars because of television!
There were goat carts available - which I must confess was a different idea to me; this allowed a family group to enjoy the experience. Another family - the Neales - also operated donkeys as well as the goat carts, and they housed their animals in Market Street and also in Ockley Road. The Neales' donkeys had a stand at the end of York Road.
They were always very popular and many children had their picture taken on a donkey, or goat cart, while other people would have sent home the postcard view of Bognor Regis with the donkeys to tell their families how much they were enjoying their holiday. At some of the Sands of Time events around 2003 we saw the donkeys return to the seafront.
The beach itself has always provided an area for entertainment. In the past, Frank Bale, better known as the Bognor Clown, would operate a marionette stand with his wife in the 1920s on the beach in front of the Royal Hotel.
Having fun on the diving platform off the beach in the 1950s
He was born in London and went to America, but eventually he returned to Britain and settled with his family in Ockley Road. This, of course, was a long time before the very popular Clowns' Convention in the 1980s and 1990s. The family eventually moved to The Steyne where Mrs Bale ran a boarding house.
This area seemed to be very popular as Samuel Mather, the Sand Scratcher, would daily entertain the crowds looking over the railings, in front of the Landsdowne, as they watched him carve intricate pictures in the sand, to the delight of all. People would then throw coins. Samuel was born in 1873 and lived in Gravits Lane, was a milkman who also sold cockles for a living and worked as a porter for a local furniture company.
While Bale and Mather entertained the crowds, the public would throw coins on to the beach to show their appreciation. Over the years, I have met a number of people who recall that, when they were children, they would take great delight in going down to the beach early in the morning searching through the newly washed sand to see if any coins had been missed at the previous day’s coin collections.
For a small seaside resort, we have had a wide range of model and miniature trains operating. One of the earliest operated on the area now occupied by the Alexandra Theatre and Regis public house.
There was also another site where children could enjoy a train ride - that of the area of ground around Longbrook, part of which eventually became used for the building of the Butlin’s Holiday Centre in 1960.
During the 1950s, when everyone was recovering from the traumas of war, a visit to the seaside was extremely popular and it was not unusual for groups to arrive in the town for a day trip.
A packed beach as passengers line up for a speedboat trip
However, these groups often consisted of more than 600 people arriving by train from a housing association, club, churches, London groups or tenants' associations. Their entertainment was principally to just sit on the beach in deck chairs, and let the children run down to the sea. They relaxed in deck chairs while various entertainments were brought to them.
Advertising in one local guide for 1954 proclaimed that ‘beach games’ would be held subject to the weather and tide during the summer holidays and this would include organised sport, physical training and other games. Can you imagine the attraction of physical training on the beach? This was in addition to the sand competitions and miniature railway that operated on the ‘east coach car park’ today’s Butlin’s site.
In addition to the events and activities mentioned here there was also the Pier, the Kursaal and, of course, for many years, the ever popular bathing machines.
The miniature railway was always popular
