A wry look at Worthing

It is a far cry from this time last year, when the benches and lawns were dominated by sometimes aggressive drunks swigging from bottles of super-strength cider.

The remarkable transformation has been brought about by the introduction of a crackdown on such people in the town centre.

But it has led to the inebriates being pushed outside the zero tolerance zone and into beach shelters west of Heene Road and east of Merton Road.

There was a time when Madeira Avenue, near Beach House Park, was so overrun with itinerants that people were afraid to go out after dark in an area with no street lights.

In 1896, a Worthing newspaper reported that the guardians who ran East Preston workhouse had "no greater obstacle in their path than the supression of the tramp nuisance. For over three centuries, the tramp has asserted his right to roam about the country and trade upon the sympathies of a kind-hearted public. He has got no work to do. He wants no work to do. He requires only the slight knowledge of human nature to set up as a gentleman of the road, sure in the conviction that his living will be provided for him."

The stinging editorial continued: "The guardians, it is thought, have been too considerate. They have provided him (the tramp) with shelter for the night, lest he should sleep in haystacks or in hovels or barns. Still he does not give up his trade. The fascination and charm of a roving life come back to him as soon as he leaves the workhouse behind him and, lighting his pipe, he trudges on to prey upon the good nature of everyone he meets.

"Indiscriminate alms-giving is primarily responsible for the multiplication of these cohorts of professional mendicants, though it is an eloquent testimony to the inherent charity of our countrymen and women that so much largesse should be forthcoming for the material sustenance of the picturesque but redolent vagrant."

Harsh words, which were echoed by the Reverend D Hole, a respected Worthing clergyman who was a former vicar of Christ Church, now part of the parish of Christ the King.

He said: "The great difficulty in giving relief to those without means, and unable, by their labour, to secure the necessaries of life, is the danger of pauperising.

Experience proves that, if necessity compels the acceptance of gifts, whether of money or in kind, self-respect in many cases disappears and people who previously shrank from accepting what they had not earned too soon fall into the habit of receiving gratuitous aid and of looking for it when they might do without it."

To be fair, the tramp question has taxed minds in Worthing for more than a century and will continue to do so for many moons to come.

Sentinel paid a visit to Bishops Garth in Tarring on Saturday for the annual fig tree garden open day.

During the day about 150 people visited the garden, which is said to date back to at least 1745.

People were greeted by Victoria Warner, seven, and sisters Imogen and Erin Steer, aged eight and six respectively, dressed as Victorian maids.

Owners Richard and Ann Warner laid on tea and cakes, plus information boards with photographs, histories, newspaper articles and a Bishops Garth family tree.

Tarring's fig gardens were once renowned as a tourist attraction, with charabancs of sightseers travelling across fields from Worthing.

Ever since Worthing was a collection of a few miserable huts occupied by fishermen procuring a precarious living from the sea, children have gone beachcombing for lumps of chalk.

They then put this natural commodity to good use, writing and chalking on the asphalt promenade to their hearts' content.

But where does the chalk come from? Sentinel understands a mile or so out to sea there is a 4ft-high chalk cliff which is visited by divers. Presumably this is the source.

Sentinel has on several occasions in the past advocated an annual children's chalk party on the seafront, when schools could compete against each other using buckets of coloured chalk sponsored by local businesses to draw intricate designs on a certain theme.

Trawling through the history books, Sentinel was interested to learn that the Frankland Arms at Washington, a hostelry much favoured by downland walkers, is named after a certain William Frankland, a descendant of Oliver Cromwell, who died at Muntham, Findon, in 1805.

Sentinel has not visited this establishment for a number of years now but remembers sitting down to a number of excellent meals in the past.

Perhaps readers could tell me of other pubs in and around Worthing which offer good quality home-cooked food, as opposed to fare which sits in a freezer for months before being microwaved.

During Sentinel's recent tour of the Castle Goring estate (featured earlier this year), Sentinel spotted half a barn, cut down the middle like a piece of birthday cake.

Apparently, former conservation officer Eric Cockain insisted that if people living nearby wanted garages, they had to be disguised in a mock Sussex-style barn.

But after planning permission was granted, only one owner exercised his option to build, leaving a rather bizarre spectacle which would have Mr Cockain gnashing his teeth in frustration.

On a visit to Worthing Post Office in Chapel Road, Sentinel noted that staff had put up a brass plaque which forms a memorial to employees who laid down their lives in the 1914-18 war.

For the record, their names were WA Bennett, P Daughtry, TJM Greet, AAJ Guiel, EA Hills, S Monnery and M Thomas.

Sentinel hears that petty thieving is reaching epidemic proportions at convenience stores around the town.

At One Stop in Broadwater, children under 16 must be accompanied by adult.

Despite scanning the Channel horizon on untold occasions, Sentinel has still never seen a waterspout, even during thunderstorms, so he was slightly perplexed when a beach inspector said he had seen about ten twisters in 20 years.

Sentinel hears of a Worthing couple who attended a show in London's West End and ended up paying not only for the tickets but £115 to have a clamp removed from their car and a £40 congestion charge.

Sentinel makes no apologies for banging on the same drum but, bearing in mind there is a street drinking ban now in force, why are the police not cracking down on people swigging from booze in beach shelters west of the Lido?

Sentinel was chatting to a member of Worthing Golf Club who said when he joined he had to undergo several interviews, present references and display his prowess on the course.

However, times have changed and the selection process was no longer so rigorous, presumably because there are so many clubs competing for members.

Boot blacks are rare nowadays so Sentinel did a double-take when he spotted a chap in army combat gear beavering away with brush and polish outside Worthing station.