I was born in 1930, in the house my father built onto the side of my grandfather’s house on Athelstan Road, in the back bedroom. And I still live here today. My mother was a cook at Summerfields back then. During the war she was very resourceful – no way we were going to starve: we had 200 chickens and 200 rabbits in the garden. In 1943 there was a technical college on The Bourne and I went there to learn the building trade, like my grandfather and my father. I was helping my grandfather from the age of seven; he built All Souls Church on Athelstan Road. During the Second World War, all the local building firms were roped in to help repair bomb-damage to Hastings. That’s what I was doing at Salmons bookshop on the seafront at White Rock, the day of the doodlebug. I was up on the roof, replacing slates, when we heard the doodlebug in the sky - then it went silent, and we saw it coming towards us. I said to my mate ‘I don’t like the look of that’ and we leapt down quick as we could, crouched by the parapet, waiting. We were so lucky - it fell on the beach, next to the pier. That was my the closest shave of my life!

Dick Spiers, Athelstan Road