Childhood memories of a
Fleet Street photographer

HAPPY days and simpler times often fill memories of our childhood if we were lucky.
The photograph above was sent in by Chris Barham, pictured fourth from the left on the back row.
It was taken in 1947 on the steps of the White Rock Pavilion and shows The Hastings Boys Choir who had just won the first prize for boy choirs in the Hastings Music Festival.
Mr Barham said: "Michael Glynne is next to me, third left, Bob Pettit is sixth left and Kenneth Hulbert is eighth left. In the next row down second left is Henry Foord whose voice was the most amazing I have heard.
Some of us were choristers at the Church of St Mary Magdalen off Warrior Square and we were considered to be the best choir in Hastings and St Leonards. They were such happy days and we were never bored.
"It was an age of innocence. We were brought up to be well mannered. There was very little money, food rationing was still in force and we had about four ounces of sweets a month. There was no drinking, no drugs, no smoking, no television, no stealing cars, no sex and we had respect for the police."
According to Mr Barham, during those post war years great big mines were washed up along the beaches causing great excitement for the children when the army came to explode them.
Another bit of fun was on windy days going to 'windy corner', Marine Court, to see who could lean into the wind the longest without falling over.
Mr Barham said: "We moved to St Leonards when my widowed mother bought a bungalow on Bexhill Road in 1945. She and my late father had honeymooned in Warrior Square in the 1920s.
“We then moved to St Mary's Terrace where we were so happy. I wonder what she would say about life as it is now in what she had called 'her paradise'."
Mr Barham left West St Leonards School aged 14 with ambitions to become a Fleet Street photographer because he wanted to meet his hero Winston Churchill and help pay his way with his mother.
Ex Daily Mirror man, Walter Effner in Bexhill, showed him the ropes and he had his first big front page shot in the London News Chronicle aged 15.
After doing two years in the RAF National Service he entered Fleet Street aged 20 and one of his first assignments was the Queen's coronation when he captured the Queen and Duke laughing.
And two years later he met his idol, shook his hand, sent him some prints and had one autographed.
Mr Barham said: "Since then I have been travelling the world to shoot exclusive pictures of the world's famous, and receiving many awards for my work, spending the last 30 years as a senior feature and fashion photographer for the Daily Mail.
“I have now retired to Marine Court, and when the gales blow I stand on 'windy corner' lean into the wind and remember those very happy days gone by."