Bill's tram and trolly memories

RECENT features on Hastings trams have generated more interest from readers.
Bill Pratt, 85, (Pictured above. third from left, back row) of Ghyllside Avenue, visited our offices and gave us a selection of old photographs and postcards depicting the long-lost form of transport in Hastings.
He also had conductor’s badges which were worn during the time together with special driving licences tram drivers needed to have.
Mr Pratt worked as a seasonal conductor on the trams and trolley buses for several months in 1948 for Hastings Tramways Company.
He landed the position after trying unsuccessfully to get a job as a sheet metal worker in the Silverhill depot.
Mr Pratt said: “When I came out of the Royal Air Force (RAF) and having worked a further 12 months as a civilian I returned to Bexhill and finished up in Hastings.
“I did try for a job as a metal worker at the depot but there were no jobs going.
“It was not my intention to work as a conductor but in those days immediately after the war times were hard and finding a job was a problem.
“Drivers on the trolley buses and trams had to have a licence and go through a course before they were allowed on to the road.”
Mr Pratt, who during the war served in India for three years and worked as an aircraft fitter, worked with 50 other people at the Silverhill depot after his stint as a conductor.
He helped maintain the trolley buses and trams, of which there were around 30, which served all four corners of Hastings and St Leonards.
Mr Pratt said: “The trolley buses came in during the war as the old single decker trams were being phased out.”
Hastings Tramways Company was taken over by Maidstone and District in late 1957.
Mr Pratt stoppeed working at the Silverhill depot in 1958 and then worked as a bus inspector on the new buses.

Market Cross, hastings, showing one of the last horse drawn buses and the first tram