I wonder if you can you go home to a place you’ve never been…. Well, that’s what it felt like to be in Worthing, the hometown of my grandmother, my great grandparents, and great-great grandparents – and the childhood home of my mother and aunt.
Worthing is a beautiful little seaside town, not far from Brighton, and full of music, theatre and art. In fact, it’s teeming with creativity with open mike nights, regular theatre performances at the Pier, and artists preparing for the upcoming Artists Open Houses. It’s not hard to imagine where much of our family’s creativity comes from with our interests in music, art and photography.
Paula on the Pier
Worthing is both changed and unchanged. Its pebbly shores are strewn with fishing boats and I can see why my grandparents were drawn to the beach and the water all their lives.
Worthing beach
View back to Worthing from the Pier
All the places we wanted to see still stand, from the three different houses in which the family lived, to the pub where my grandparents got engaged, to the church in which they were married. We stood in the very archway they stood surrounded by their guard of honour of police and commandos.
Worthing church - the archway in which my grandparents stood on their wedding day
Worthing church
Worthing graveyard.
White daisies and bluebells grow thick between the gravestones, many of which are so old the writing had been lost.
Beach houses Worthing beach
Worthing beach
Beach house textures