MEMORIES OF NEWHAVEN

Family connections to Newhaven

By David Sweatman

My earliest memories of Newhaven go back to the summer of 1947, when I was 5 years old. My father, Arthur John Sweatman, mother Winifred (nee Wilson), elder sisters Irene & Isobel, myself and younger sister Catherine (always known as Pat) travelled from Wellingborough, Northants by train. I remember being reluctant to board the train and was threatened with being left behind, which worked like magic. On arrival we were billeted with relatives, Pat & I with our Aunt Mabel & Uncle Bert in Kammond Avenue, Seaford, Irene & Isobel with an aunt & uncle in Newhaven, and my father staying with his widowed mother Emily (nee Simmons) at her bungalow in Second Avenue. Our side of the family had been evacuated at the beginning of WW2, due to the threat of invasion, as had many others, but most found their way back as the threat of invasion receded. For some unknown reason my father & mother stayed, initially in Bedford, then moving to Wellingborough in 1941, the year before I was born. So began my association with Newhaven & Seaford which has never faded. This web site brings back many happy memories, I am so pleased that I found it, albeit by accident.

This page was added by David Sweatman on 29/11/2013.
Comments about this page

David, were you by any chance related to the Sweatmans of Lewes Road that I refer to in my "Memories of a Small Boy" 1943-46?

By Michael Cawte
On 24/02/2014

With reference to the question by Michael Cawte, indeed Gerald and myself are first cousins, although I remember that in the late forties he was living in Third avenue with his father Harry, mother Winifred and younger sister Joy. There a definite connection with Lewes Rd as our grandmother, Emily Simmons lived there at the time of the 1901 census with parents, whilst next door was a couple with two lodgers, one of which was William Sweatman, an itinerant (travelling) bricklayer's labourer. Emily and William married in 1902, my father Arthur John was born in 1903. In 1911 the family was living in Elphick Rd, I am not sure where Harry came into the family but in total there were four brothers and a sister that I knew of as uncles and aunt. I have been researching the family tree and have found some interesting facts about the family, which I will add to this page where relevant.

By David Sweatman
On 28/02/2014
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