Above - Saltdean Lido in it's heyday - the sign on the Lido says 'Grand Gala Day 27th August' and the year is almost surely 1938

Left - A rare picture of the boating pool

Children had a separate paddling pool and there was also a boating lake with paddle boats. It was floodlit at night. The reinforced concrete steps of the three tier diving board have now disappeared along with the boating pool to the rear - where the community centre and library is situated today. There was also an elaborate rock garden on the west embankment. Charles Neville looked ahead with a car park planned for 1000 cars with regular buses and shops close by. It was soon a popular venue.

Above - The Ocean Hotel on the 30 July 1938,
one week after grand opening

In 1937 the Coastguard cottages were demolished to build a luxury block of flats - Curzon House - set back as the lady who ran the Post Office and General Store would not sell. The flats were built round her and Teynham House built as planned. The flat were let by the Saltdean Estate Company to approved tenants only. They were single roomed with bathroom and kitchen for £65 p.a. and £100 for three rooms, bathroom and kitchen. The kitchens were designed to be labour saving and modern with a fridge, and the bathrooms were luxuriously tiled with a shower. The living rooms had coal fireplaces in addition to central heating and the entrance halls had uniformed porters and a caretaker who was always available. With flats having balconies overlooking the sea or the downs and there was also a roof garden for all. The Comus Club (named after the Greek goddess of fun and laughter) was run and managed for Neville by a Mr Halliwell. During the war all service staff at the Ocean Hotel were made honorary members of the club.

In 1935 a 4 1/2 acre site was bought and leased to Ocean Hotels Ltd - an arm of Saltdean Estate Company. By early March 1938 the shell of the building had been erected and promoters had spent over £200,000 on the hotel. The building could house 600 guests on special terms, fully inclusive, at 31/2 guineas with cheaper rates for long-stay guests.

The 426 bedrooms had central heating, hot and cold water and the hotel contained a very fashionable American-style bar. The restaurant in the hotel was 120 ft by 50 ft and promoters even organised an orchard at the end of Saltdean Vale to provide fresh fruit in season.

The especially constructed ballroom floor was claimed to be the finest in England. The hotel also had a billiards room, exercise room, childrens nursery, swimming pool and paddling pool. It as also open to non-residents for meals and it was used by the residents association. A 1939 dinner dance was held there not long before the outbreak of war which was a great success and it was used again as a venue.

During the Second World War there was a great sense of community in Saltdean. Saltdean's War Savings Committee was appointed and by 1941 over 12 street groups had collected over £4000 for the war effort - their centre of activities being a flat in Saltdean Court, Longridge Avenue. The war bought Saltdean's development to a virtual halt and the last meeting of the Residents Association took place on 30 August 194, where the minutes rather dramatically were broken off mid-sentence. The next meeting of the Residents Association was not to be until the 5th October 1945. In 1940 the Secretary of the Residents Association wrote to the Estate Company to only to be told that there was as little as 12s 11d in the bank.
Although an important role was played by the Housewives Home Guard led by Mrs Beckwith, a major effort in the community was undergone by the Saltdean Fellowship (formerly the Saltdean Self-Help Fellowship), founded by Mrs M Fletcher and Mrs K Shaw in 1940 after Mrs Shaw gave first aid lectures to local residents in her own home.. The stated objects of the Fellowship were in tending to casualties, helping the homeless destitute through war and organizing first aid and home nursing classes and also organising working parties for providing required items by the fighting and mercantile services, providing social functions and to generally promote a sense of community spirit.

The first meeting, held at the Saltdean Club above the Estate Office, had over 70 attend and was opened by an address from Miss Gore Brown, President of the British Red Cross Society (Brighton, Hove and Preston Division). At another meeting Alderman Miss Margaret Hardy MBE JP spoke and mention of this was made both in the local and national press. It was open to ladies and gentleman, Saltdean residents or those interested in Saltdean, at an annual subscription of a shilling a year. It's first aid point of operation was a lock-up shop in Longridge Avenue which lasted 4 1/2 years and by June 1941, 92 patients had been treated and 188 dressings made on military and civilian casualties earning them official recognition from the Ministry of Health. Most Fellowship meetings were held at 'Bedford', now 'Bethany' in Arundel Drive West, home of Mrs Hill, and over 5 years mountains of garments (1626 woolens alone) were sent for dispatch to the services, Merchant Navy and the blitzed people of Britain and Russia. On 25 November 1940, Miss Margaret Hardy returned to 'Bedford' to a sale of household goods, garments and fancy leather work which sold so quickly that when a reporter from the Herald arrived halfway through the day most of the goods had gone. This raised a huge £56 for deserving causes.

During the Second World War the Ocean Hotel was occupied for a short time by the Ladies A.T.S and then taken over by the Auxiliary Fire Service. Protection against fire was as equally important as air-raid precautions, and a team of five fiull-time fire wardens were appointed and occupied an empty house in Westmeston Avenue. The Fire Service at the Ocean Hotel took over the Lido as a water tank and erected a tower in the Oval park for climbing practice and exercise drills. The Ocean garage became an agricultural machinery and repair shop.

The Ocean Hotel was officially opened as a fire service college on 10th October 1941 and was a major news event at the time. It was intended to operate for the higher training of senior officers and instruction of junior officers and other ranks. Herbert Morrision - at the time Home Secretary - opened the College and he made the point that fire services had increased tenfold and maybe even twenty-fold since the start of the war. The number instructed at any one time was around 200 and later in the war the college also admitted women. It also had the facilities of a chemist, a fully equipped laboratory and control rooms. The Ocean Hotel was used throughout the War and it was not until 1952 that the lease of the hotel was taken over by a subsidiary of Butlins Ltd.

Precautions were taken in Saltdean against enemy aircraft and on the golf course a light AA gun was established. On Telscombe Tye 15 foot high steel poles were erected to deter the landing of enemy aircraft. The radar station on the Tye was not always very reliable as aircraft would often fly below cliff level. Dog fights would take place over the sea especially early on and local resident Gordon Tucknott recalls a spitfire bought down on the Telscombe side of the Tye in 1942. At 1.35 pm on 25 October 1940 an ME 109 was bought down to the rear of Saltdean although the pilot escaped unscathed. He was a 19 year old pilot called Karl Raisinger, who was escorted to Brighton Police Station and interrogated before being sent to Chichester Barracks. Interestingly in July 1979 he returned to Brighton and reported that 'it is marvellous to come back to Brighton'.

History of the Fire Service College
The Fire Brigades Act 1938 authorized the establishment of a training centre for special fire service courses. A site at Watford (now the Building Research Establishment) was identified by the Home Office, but with the outbreak of World War Two a much larger site was needed. The Ocean Hotel at Saltdean, near Brighton, had ample sleeping and catering facilities and the War Office provided it as the National Fire Service Training College. The Hotel also had a large swimming pool that was ideal for pump drills. The first students arrived on 29th September 1941 and the Home Secretary formally opened the College on 10th October 1941. The College trained firemen and women throughout WW2 in all aspects of the National Fire Service.

The National Fire Service Training College
at Saltdean

The Fire Services Act 1947 denationalized the fire service, but the national training centre was retained. The NFS College at Saltdean became the Fire Service College, and the Fire Service Board was established to run it for the Home Department. The Ocean Hotel was soon found to be too large for peacetime training needs and, in 1949, the Fire Service College moved to Wotton House, near Dorking, Surrey.

On the 10 February 1943 at 14.30 hours a spectacular air crash occurred on misty downland behind Saltdean just north of Longridge Avenue which was a Dornier DO 217 from Kampfgeschwader 40, bought down by AA fire after bombing Whitehawk Estate and the coast road. It was forced to make an emergency landing but failed and the wreckage was scattered over a wide area. The four crew members were later buried at Bear Road cemetery. Another Dornier raid killed a policeman at Rottingdean crossroads, burnt the Rottingdean Vicarage to the ground and a bomb landed on St Aubyn's fields. Saltdean Fellowship's minutes of 6th February 1943 state that £10 was paid to a Mrs Stone of Saltdean Mount after her husband was killed in 'the raid at Rottingdean'.

Many Saltdean men were out on active service during the war, and most of the troops stationed in the area came from Britain and Canada. There was also a London and Scottish contingent here for a short time who were reviewed in Rottingdean by the Queen - their colonel-in-chief. The Hampshire's performed a variety of exercises on land behind Saltdean. Billets and social amenities had to be found and Saltdean Fellowship's minutes of 23 May 1941 record that 'entertainment should be given by Fellowship members for Pioneer Corps' They mostly integrated into the local community but sadly several important local landmarks such as Harvey's Cross, Pickers Hill Cottage, High Barn and buildings in Balsdean were all lost to target practice. The Colonel in charge kindly allowed local residents onto the beaches, which were out of bounds to local residents, if they left by 6 pm. A few spoiled the privilege and this was withdrawn. .

Scores of bombs were jettisoned locally, many unexploded, and one fell at the eastern end of Rodmell Avenue. Most fell on open farmland and there were very few casualties. As late as 1957 a mine containing 500 tonnes of explosive was found by Robert Marchini of the Whitecliff's Cafe on the beach.

Another interesting example of Saltdean's community spirit was the use of the White House from December 1944 to spring 1945 as a rest centre for departing refugees. Mrs Muriel Sibley of the Fellowship undertook the organisation of this with some help from the W.V.S. All the refugees were French, which she helped look after travelling from London on their way to Newhaven. Every social class was represented from diplomats to peasants.

The Fellowship itself carried on valiantly throughout the war, earning a gesture of appreciation from a Mr Wallis who on hearing that 'Bedford' was due to be sold, bought it and leant to them for the duration. The first aid point eventually became a sort of social service centre serving orange juice to local children. At the end of 1944 it was agreed to use up existing funds in a 'Welcome Home Fund', open to applicants who were on active service when hostilities ceased and resided between Cranleigh Avenue and Ashurst Avenue. A total of 47 applicants were sent a letter of appreciation and a cheque for £11 2s 6d out of a total fund of £522 19s 6d.

During the war, Charles Neville and his sons stayed in Canada, where they were when war broke out. Their contribution to the war effort was largely though business efforts due to restrictions by illness on serving actively. One son was involved in cinnabar (mercury) mining and the other in lumber.

So it seems that Saltdean can be proud of it's community spirit during the War. After the war it was to be the reopening of Butlins and the Lido and the return of the ever-stronger Residents Association.

• Ancient Mounds, Romans & Burials
  
• Smugglers & Shipwrecks
  
• The Beginning of Saltdean Today
  
• The Ocean, the Lido and the War
• Post-War years
• The Oakleaf Story
• Personal Stories
• Saltdean Lido
• Old Postcards