Memories of a lively town

Her great grandfather Harry Alfred Lee was the owner of The Unicorn Inn in Eastgate Square, now the home of the Chichester Observer. And it was in Chichester that Hazel was born.

But the city is a very different place now, as Hazel recalls.

"I was born in Chichester to loving parents in l954 (delivered by my dad because the nurse was late) and grew up happily in the city of my birth until I left to train as an occupational therapist in London in 1973.

"After working in London, I went to the Netherlands to work, and then married a Dutchman, raised two daughters, and I have lived there ever since. However, having said that, I have together with the family always returned to Chichester every summer to enjoy the wonderful surroundings and feeling of being where my roots are.

"The city of Chichester has undergone many changes over the years, particularly with changes of shop ownership.

"Many of the shops that stand out in my childhood memory were ones in East Street: Liptons (didn't they sell loose biscuits from containers?), Charges, on the corner by the Cross where a policeman stood nearby - a 'department store of clothing' that sold everything from stockings and fine leather gloves to hats for every occasion (the change shot through pipes), Mac Fisheries, where Mum and I used to buy yellow fish, mackerel I think, David Greg where I remember smartly-dressed ladies in aprons, and finely-cut ham, and 'bath chaps' (do they still make them?), Tudor cafe where they sold delicious date slices, and where my adventurous sister got lost - a drama often told by my dear mother, making it stand out in my memory even more. There was also a Timothy Whites chemist where Boots now stands. And there was the cinema.

"It was always a treat to go to the pictures on a Saturday morning. The Granada cinema, once the Corn Exchange (now a clothes shop) was a wonderful place to be.

"Once, I recall, just before the start of a film (a cowboy, probably), a group of teenage girls playbacked to a sad song about a biker and his girlfriend with 'remember' in the refrain (1960s?).

"The girls gave a good show, I recollect. Queuing outside the Granada for admittance was usual, and I remember my family and I being shown our seats by a helpful usherette with a torch, and sitting down to watch great family films starring Hayley Mills, and other greats such as The Sound of Music and Ben Hur.

"Orange squash in squeezy rectangular containers with straws and ice-cream and wafers were purchased during intervals and happily guzzled by the audiences.

"In North Street, I remember Geerings (almost opposite WH Smiths) a drapers that sold, amongst other things, cotton tablecloths with printed hydrangeas on them for two shillings and sixpence (a bargain in a sale!) and, opposite and nearer the Cross, Shirley's, a clothing store, with stairs from the pavement to an upper floor, and a Father Christmas grotto every December.

"North Street even had a pet shop near to Geerings. It was dark and narrow and sold everything from birds' seed to livestock, including land tortoises. And there was a men's outfitter nearby.

"The demise of Woolworths makes me, like many others, very sad. Not only being a handy shop to pop into for household articles, clothes, and pick and mixes, it was a shop that had always been there. Good old Woolies. Hopefully, it will make a comeback.

"I once attended art classes in the property opposite Woolworths (upstairs, next to the Butter market) given by Chichester College in the early seventies. It later became a kind of market, selling material, snacks, and retro clothing, but has since changed again'¦to what, I don't know. I'll have a look when I'm in Chichester again.

"There have been many other changes in Chichester since I was a girl. And not only to shops. Perhaps I could have reminisced about my school days at the Central, now demolished, or the Lancastrian (now the High) - or the discos I attended as a spotty teenager at The White Horse in South Street (it was refurbished and had a name change a while ago) and occasionally at Fernleigh, or perhaps I could have recalled my days as Saturday assistant at Morants (now Army and Navy), or at the library (in the days when people read more books and didn't have computer games), or mentioned my summer jobs stacking glass jars on conveyor belts at Shippams (the wishbone is still there) or as an usherette at the Festival Theatre where rising stars such as Anthony Hopkins (now a Sir I believe), used to perform.

"Perhaps I could have mentioned my Uncle Bill's allotment where the Homes (orphanage) used to be, and the changes in and around St Paul's Road where my parents and grandparents used to live'¦or even'¦ I could go on, but it's best I leave it here before you become bored, reader!

"I hope that you have such wonderful thoughts and memories of Chichester like I have. It's still a great place to be."