Dymchurch 1923 Paul Nash
I live
about 12 miles inland from the little coastal town of Dymchurch on Romney
Marsh. The small cafe I have frequented there for about 30 years had recently
changed hands. It was, at last, a brilliant cold sunny day so I hoisted out the
ebike and decided to toddle down there to have lunch and see what the new
owners had done to it.
It was
the Easter holidays and there is an amusement park about 200 yards away so the
cafe was teeming. But a small elderly man at a table for two offered me the
place opposite him. I ordered my meal at the counter (meat pie, chips and mushy
peas if you are interested) and joined him.
" I
hire out sun loungers on the beach and popped in for elevenses" he said.
His accent was pretty heavy Geordie and I commented that he had originated
somewhat north of the Kent coast. That got him going.
He had
been born in Northumberland and did his National Service in the RAF (so must
have probably been at least 80). After his two years service he had fetched up
in London, served an apprenticeship in the building trade, stayed there and
eventually married and moved to Hastings. "You have kept your Geordie
accent still", I commented. "You never lose it lad" (Lad - I am
84!) he proudly replied. This opened the flood gates and I was treated to all
his working life story.
Being of
a size and enjoying horses he had been a part-time jockey. He rose in the
building trade to become a site agent until his retirement at 60. "So what
are you going to do now?" his wife asked him. "I bought a dozen
donkeys and hired them out for beach rides. I also had a couple of fields
nearby at Camber Sands and hired them out in season as overflow car
parking". He had three daughters, one in insurance, one a solicitor and
the last an accountant. "So they did all the paperwork for me and I
collected all the cash. Some nights when the wife and I cashed up there
was five grand lying on the table, It was cash in hand, boy - they paid me
for the donkey rides and for the car park when they parked, so no paperwork or
invoices and my daughter kept the tax man sweet".
When he
had been doing this for 20 years the family said he should slow down a bit.
"So I sold the donkeys and the fields and bought 30 sunloungers to hire
out on Dymchurch sands as I could see a niche for them. That's what I do
now".
He rose
to go. "Come down to the beach sometime for a chat" (he loved to
talk). By now I had tuned into that Geordie accent - still there after some 60
years. I got on with my meal, reflecting how a simple invitation to sit with
him had gifted me with an encounter to remember.
By the
way - the new owners have transformed the cafe with redecoration, good food and
friendly atmosphere. I shall return to Ivy's Tearoom in the High Street.
