A Wry Look at Worthing

The dress code bans swimming costume and singlets, which won't trouble one particular cabbie, who wears the full chauffeur's outfit, complete with peaked cap.

Now drivers have been ordered to stop sounding their horns, no matter what time of day it is, when they pull up outside a fare's house.

The council believes a quick beep-beep disturbs everybody in the street but one cabbie responded: "Everyone expects the taxi to hoot. Surely it is not unreasonable before dusk."

Now drivers must get out of their cars, walk up to the front door and announce their presence. Sentinel suggests they take a Klaxon and give it three blasts.

There were few shoddier episodes in the history of the town than the sale by Broadwater Church of a medieval knight's helmet that once graced the tomb of Lord de la Warr.

The historic artefact had hung above the gentleman's memorial since 1526 and was at one stage used by parishioners as a poor box.

There was even a little poem about the helmet, penned by a man named Paul Potion, which went:

To the great Earl of de la Warr, Whose head it saved from many a scar, And after being beat and bruised, Is for a parish poor box used.

In 1974, the helmet was sold at auction to the Tower of London for £22,000 but the church was severely criticised for offloading the relic.

AR Dufty, master of the Tower of London Armouries, said the helmet was an integral part of the funeral monument and the church had no moral right to sell it.

But the Rector of Broadwater, the Reverend Peter Marrow, replied that the helmet had been in a bank vault for a number of years and the money would be used to pay the stipend of a much-needed assistant curate.

While on the subject of Broadwater, Sentinel was interested to learn that in 1923 archaeologists investigated a kitchen rubbish dump opposite St Mary's Church.

At the time, the site was occupied by Muir House, later demolished to make way for the "picturesque" Broadwater Boulevard shopping precinct.

Archaeologists found a dense bed of shells, 2ft deep in places, including oysters, cockles, whelks, periwinkles and mussels that probably dated back to the 17th Century and beyond.

Sentinel was interested to learn the years 1800 to 1835 were known as The Golden Age of Worthing, and wondered whether the town could ever again achieve such a gilt-edged reputation.

Sentinel was interested to learn the average price of a property in Worthing is £156,587, which breaks down as £106,638 for a flat or maisonette, £159,566 for a terraced house and £249,597 for a detached house.

Assuming a deposit of ten per cent, the salary required to raise a mortgage to buy a flat is £25,000. To buy a house the salary would be between £35,000 and £47,500 depending on the type of property.

For number crunchers out there, there are 97,568 people in Worthing occupying 45,669 homes, making it the second largest town in West Sussex.

The age profile of residents has changed significantly over the past 20 years, with the percentage in the over-60 age group having fallen dramatically, from 38 per cent in 1981 to 28 per cent in 2001.

Those in the 20-39 age group now account for 25 per cent of the population but the town still has the highest percentage of people over 85 in the country.

Travelling through time, Sentinel has stumbled across some intriguing historical references to famous figures visiting Worthing in bygone years.

For instance, he found one newspaper article which suggested that George Stephenson, inventor of The Rocket locomotive, stayed in cottages later demolished to make way for Sion School.

It is fairly certain Charles Darwin visited a friend and benefactor in Heene and may even have stayed at what is now the Burlington Hotel.

But Sentinel is absolutely sure Sir Robert Peel, who founded the modern police force, stayed with his family in a suite of apartments at Bennett's Steyne Hotel in March 1846.

A newspaper of the day reported how great excitement prevailed when: "In the afternoon of Saturday, the weather being delightfully fine and spring-like, the whole party walked leisurely by the seaside and through the principal streets of the town. It is understood that the party formed a very favourable opinion of the town as a watering place and intimated the probability of again visiting it."

Sentinel was interested to learn the Worthing Society is planning to replace blue plaques around the town, starting with the WH Hudson memorial in Bedford Row.

Several plaques have either gone missing down the years or are so faded by sunlight they are barely readable, such as the one commemorating the Victorian soup kitchen in Grafton Road.

Sentinel got a glimpse of the future when he saw two artists' impressions of what Liverpool Gardens may look like after a £100,000 revamp.

The money was left in a bequest to the town and is being put to good use, although the council has steered clear of a fountain, fearing delinquents armed with detergent might run amok, creating a town centre foam party.

Sentinel was sorry to hear the annual mayoral ball at the Assembly Hall may be consigned to the history books after this year's civic shindig was cancelled due to lack of interest.

The formal black-tie event was not so long ago a highlight of the county's social calendar, attracting the great and good from East and West Sussex.

Worthing used to stage numerous well-attended dances such as the Press Ball, the Police Ball and the Inhabitants Ball, but all fell by the wayside in the latter years of the 20th Century.

Sentinel hears on the grapevine the Lions might be willing to take on the organisation of the popular Worthing Festival, formerly the seafront fayre.

Sentinel was delighted to note when callers are put on hold when ringing Bond International Software, based at Courtlands, Parklands Avenue, Goring, they are shaken and stirred by the famous signature tune that has graced so many James Bond films over the years.

Talking of music, while walking to work along the seafront last Thursday, Sentinel overheard the brow-soothing tones of a saxophone and, on investigating further, found a musician sitting on a groyne opposite Anscombe Road.

Socialism and Worthing just don't mix and we are more likely to be hit by an asteroid before a Labour candidate gets elected to Worthing Borough Council. So Sentinel was interested to note somebody has been prowling around the town hall armed with black paint and a stencil of Lenin, with haunting results.

Sentinel takes a keen interest in the fashions of the day and spotted a girl walking along Brighton Road recently wearing bright pink stiletto shoes.

The football season is in full flow and Chelsea replica tops appear to be a best-seller, followed at some distance by Arsenal.

For the past 15 years or so, the primary feature of the Continental Cafe in Warwick Street has been a colourful Moulin Rouge mural so Sentinel was sorry to note it has been painted out.

Sentinel hears on the grapevine The Church bar in High Street has been staging Sunday morning church services but one wonders how much the venue charges for communion wine?

With a new block of flats rapidly rising from the former site of the Warnes Hotel, it is only a matter of time before the terraced houses at the south end of York Road are once again cast into permanent shade.

Sentinel was interested to note the Love At First Bite sandwich bar in Field Row had got around a ban on A-boards in Montague Street - by impaling on a traffic cone a cardboard box adorned with directions to the business.

Driving along George V Avenue, Sentinel noted how sparse trees had become along this important thoroughfare to the seafront. If ever a road needed to be turned into a tree-lined boulevard, recreating Worthing's long lost sylvan charm, this is it.

Call it black humour but Sentinel raised an eyebrow at the story of a hearse pulling up sharply at the lights in Broadwater Road, near Northbrook College, resulting in the coffin shooting out of the back. One wonders if the tale is true?