Strange weather patterns '“ it's not the first time

From a local perspective Bognor Regis and its vicinity has always been justifiably proud of its place within the sunshine league and if you look back through history books and read the messages on the reverse of postcards, weather is often mentioned and usually in a complimentary manner.

However, this has not always been the case. We have periodically hit the national headlines, as we have at times been the recipients of many severe weather conditions.

There are numerous reports and pictures of postmen, and others, rowing boats through flood waters along the length of York Road, especially in 1904.

In 1856, the West Sussex Gazette reported on 'the late high tide'.

The report states: ''It was now discovered that so rapid had been the rise of the water, that the tenants had not left their houses and seemed threatened with certain destruction."

They were seen waving handkerchiefs from the upper windows. The long report concluded with 'the scene of devastation is well worth a visit from those who live in the neighbourhood'. No change there!

The central area of town was notorious for flooding. One such report in 1914 told of floods sweeping through the Kursaal '“ the site of today's Alexandra Theatre '“ and into its auditorium, necessitating people being rescued by boat.

Years later in 1987, I can remember sitting in the Regis Centre listening to a play about Bognor and wondering whether the roof would remain in place throughout the performance.

It did, although the roof was damaged during the night and the play was never performed again. Which was a shame as it was very good!

I have found many more pictures and articles on the flooding which occurred along the seafront up to and including West Street in 1918.

One report said: "The parade looked as though several bombs had been dropped, so great was the havoc wrought."

At the seaward end of the Steyne and Landsdown Mansions the area was quite literally ripped up, proving we were not strangers to the forces of nature, as this area has repeatedly been damaged, until the early 1990s when the new sea wall was built.

Flooding from the sea and heavy rains have continually caused problems but, during the 1960s, there was another problem. Much of the country was gripped by heavy snowfalls, not least of which was West Sussex and in 1963 here in Bognor Regis the sea actually froze and resulted in some dramatic photographs being taken.

Many people have memories of this, as many rushed down to the seafront and just stood and looked at the expanse of ice. Of course many people took pictures of this quite spectacular occurance. Some of the newspaper articles of the time reported the temperature had in fact fallen to minus 17F.

The previously reported exceptionally cold spell had been in 1947.

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High seas at Bognor have also been photographed '“ on postcards and especially by W P Marsh who won national competitions with his photographs of our high seas.

During the 1980s, there were more instances of heavy rain and flooding. In the later part of the 1980s we were subjected to very strong winds

This culminated in the terrible hurricane of 1987, which struck across the south of England and caused such destruction in the town and Hotham Park.

These strong winds continued for a number of years and in October 2000 we again reached the national press as a tornado ripped through part of the town.

Mention of this particular fact was even recorded in The Record in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, and was sent to me by family members.

These major events have always been chronicled in major publications.

We tend to assume this was a new occurrence but in fact gales and hurricanes were recorded around Bognor and Felpham in the 1840s. The Hampshire Telegraph on November 6,1820, reported '˜a range of coach houses at the Hotel at Bognor were levelled; and so were the whole of the row of fishermen's shops to the eastward of that place, with every small tenement on that part of the coast'.

So nothing is really new '“ maybe today it appears worse as it is reported in greater detail to a wider audience.

The seafront obviously has taken much of the battering and it was for this reason the area along the shores of Felpham, Middleton and Elmer received large rocks to help prevent the flooding that they had experienced in the 1980s and 90s.

From 1993 the rocks started to arrive to shelter Elmer and Middleton.

The 150,000 tons of rocks were syenite from Norway and quartzite from France. In 1998 similar work commenced in the Felpham area.

There are of course many discussions about global warming, which allegedly creates the rising sea levels.

However we do not always realise just how much this has already occurred.

Some postcards of the 1950s, which clearly show a lower promenade in front of the Esplanade Theatre and Rock buildings, where today the beach is level with the top promenade, can illustrate this.

The pleasure of sitting on the lower level resting against the wall has vanished forever.

However, we are lucky our most noteworthy claim to fame is without doubt our sunshine record.

In 1966 when the postal services used slogans to decorate our letters with a specific postmark, there was one design, which celebrated the sunshine records. In 1981 the town topped some of the seaside resort records with in excess of 85 per cent sunshine and the highest temperature that year recorded as 76 degrees. It is a shame that these postal slogans are not used today. One headline in March 1993 '˜spoke' of '˜Sunny Bognor '“ or make do with Benidorm'.

The town happily continues to achieve top ranking when it comes to sunshine levels, and this obviously entices our visitors to the town each year. Luckily the snow is a short-term occurrence, here, compared with towns and cities worldwide, but it does provide us with yet another talking point.