The Music of the Masts
One of my earliest holiday memories is the music of the masts as the rigging of the yachts in Chichester Harbour , West Wittering clattered in rhythm with the wind .
The beach was tantalisingly close . The lagoons ( if the tide was out) and the Green Chalet ( bucket, spades and windmills ) awaited us but it always seemed to take an inexplicably long time for the impedimenta to be collected and for us to set out .
It was generally an extended family holiday ( West Wittering had been the destination of choice forever) and my Grandfather in particular defied any concept of time keeping being entirely a law unto himself .
It was the same walk always . I can remember , as a small child , no more than 3 , slipping out of the back gate and setting out by myself towards the field with the horses through which we walked .
I always had the sense or caution to pause at the style and then run back to the house in the hope that the others would be ready . Finally , finally they were and we would set out
Everybody seemed to wear more in those days . Linen jackets and aertex caps come to mind . Head scarves against the wind featured , at least by the time we reached the beach .
As you can imagine we always stayed in the same place . Hulets , overlooking a meadow complete with Norman Church , at least until its owners , always referred to as the Schnads (short for Schnadhorst I think) rather irritatingly decided to retire there – to their own house – the temerity of it . The greatest joy for a 3 year old was that it came complete with a classic Rocking Horse . It was a delight – something that one dreamed of having but actually only experienced at Hulets . My one at home really didn’t measure up .
In future years we had to decamp to Green Duer . A massive disruption .
It was next door .
The happiest memories from an anchored secure childhood surrounded by mild eccentricity which included bringing a cricket team down every year to play the locals but , of course that all seemed perfectly normal to me as a child.
And the music of the masts brings all those memories flooding back .
brucemcd View All →
Sharing ideas and experiences drawn from 30 years as a Public Service Leader . Firm believer in the value of Public Service and the importance of vision , strategy , communication and engagement in making a positive difference to people’s lives .Hopefully helping make sense of what often seems a complicated world .
