It was 19 years ago today

[The Clown of Pevensey Bay]

I was 6 and remember the excitement at, er, not having to go to school.

Wasn't TV news great when it just consisted of pictures of newsworthy things and people, with reporters talking over the top?

Nowadays it would be "Over now to our ITV Hurricane Control Centre, and our reporter Lucy Lipgloss. Lucy."

"Thanks Alastair, I'm at the ITV Hurricane Control Centre" etc etc etc.

 

[Man of Harveys]

A friend of mine who lived in Hanover, just off Southover Street found PEBBLES carried from the beach in the road outside their house.

 

[malcolm prescott]

I remember looking at the storm out the window when our dustbin lid sailed by so I went out to get it at which point the dustbin bloody great big metal thing flew over my head and crashed into parked cars smashing the roof and window of one at this piont I decided the best move was to get in doors quick, the next morning was increadable trees down all over chimneys down crushed cars amazing so few killed........you young wipper snappers dont know what it was like to have been though the night of the big storm...........then of course the following year almost to the day we had the night of the big wind which again caused a lot of distruction...........and then a couple of weeks ago the night of the not so big breeze which dident cause any damage
at all.

 

[H block]

Remember it well - glass breaking in the flats above and shattering against the windows, then one of our windows going. I'll always regret not taking loads of photos the next day because the scale of the destruction is almost impossible to remember now. I remember seeing two cars' roofs which had been completely demolished by bricks blown off the facade of a block of flats, while what had been beach huts was now smashed up into tiny bits of wood and lay all over the lawns.


Yeah I miss the old Brighton v Palace games as well.

 

[Guinness Boy]

I was 6 and remember the excitement at, er, not having to go to school.

Wasn't TV news great when it just consisted of pictures of newsworthy things and people, with reporters talking over the top?

Nowadays it would be "Over now to our ITV Hurricane Control Centre, and our reporter Lucy Lipgloss. Lucy."

"Thanks Alastair, I'm at the ITV Hurricane Control Centre" etc etc etc.

I don't know. The power was out.

 

[Mtoto]

Slept through it with a skinful, like plenty of others on here. Was living in Turnpike Lane at the time, crawled out of bed with a stinking hangover and staggered to the tube station. Waited half an hour for a tube, but nothing came, and there was no-one else on the platform.

Went upstairs, walked for miles, eventually got a bus and got to work in Aldwych four hours late. The boss said: we assumed you weren't coming because of the hurricane. To which I replied: what hurricane?

When I got home that evening, I realised that a bloody great tree had come down in the night, blocking the road and smashing two cars. I was so close to death by hangover in the morning I'd managed to walk straight past it without noticing.

 

[Woodchip]

Slept through it with a skinful, like plenty of others on here. Was living in Turnpike Lane at the time, crawled out of bed with a stinking hangover and staggered to the tube station. Waited half an hour for a tube, but nothing came, and there was no-one else on the platform.

Went upstairs, walked for miles, eventually got a bus and got to work in Aldwych four hours late. The boss said: we assumed you weren't coming because of the hurricane. To which I replied: what hurricane?

When I got home that evening, I realised that a bloody great tree had come down in the night, blocking the road and smashing two cars. I was so close to death by hangover in the morning I'd managed to walk straight past it without noticing.

I don't remember much of it (for a seven year old). The only think I do remeber is that the greenhouse we had in the back garden was never found. If anyone lives near Seaford and found a spare greenhouse you can keep it.

Oh, and the fact that the following day my uncle got married at The Grange in Lewes. That made for some intersting photos. Especially with Dad replacing the tiles on my uncles roof wearing a suit.

 

[sully]

I slept through it in Hollingdean Road.

I remember waking up and my first thought was "bollocks, it's daylight, I must be late for work (in Wimbledon)". I reached for the phone and it wasn't working. Went to make a cup of tea and there was no power. I really had no idea what had happened, it was so quiet outside with no visible signs of anything from my house.

It wasn't 'til I walked down Lewes Road to the Level that I started to realise that something huge had happened and I'd missed it. I seem to remember Victoria Gardens in the Steine being covered in bits of Correx that had been ripped from the scaffolding around the Pavillion. I eventually managed to ring work from the station, but there were only a couple of people in.

I spent the rest of the day taking photos of the area around the Level, Steine and Lanes before attempting to find out what had happened to my family and friends in Burgess Hill. It was impossible to get there by road for a couple of days, so I had to wait until the phone lines were working again.

Incredible scenes. I still look up at Chanctonbury Ring on my way to work and think about the devastation that day.

I still sleep soundly at night, though! I missed the Grand Hotel bombing, too - despite living next to Preston Circus fire station at the time.