Th e Tr ee!Our return journey to Worthing first of all took us back

to the Arundel by-pass. Heavy traffic forced us to a crawl andgave us the opportunity to enjoy the landscape across the fieldsto the impressive turrets of the castle. The opportunity seemedtoo good to miss and retrieving the camera from the back of thecar, Sandra attempted to capture the view from the window ofthe slow moving vehicle. The third attempt provided the pictureon the right. The first (right below) was perhaps taken from a lit-tle too far away but the second caused roars of laughter as theperfectly framed castle was obliterated by a tree as we cruisedby. You must admit though that it’s not a bad picture of a tree.

“I think that I shall never see, a poem ……”

Bognor last Sunday and that’s saying more thanenough – we left the Trading Post to enter Little-hampton itself.

We’d pack a lot into today – The Trundle,Chichester, the search for the vineyard and a visit tothe Trading Post but we still had time before return-ing to Worthing to look up the Lifeboat Station in

Littlehampton. I found the boat-house – there was no giftshop – but it was empty. Thecrew were out exercising in theriver estuary and I could herethem shouting out instructionsto each other just beyond thesea wall. Unfortunately oursearch for RNLI Calendars wasgoing to be fruitless this year.

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We continued on a meandering routefrom Arundel, following country roads and by-ways as we headed homewards. We are fond ofpurchasing local produce to take back as pre-sents such as cheese, cider and apple and ciderjelly from the West Country. So when we saw asign pointing to a vineyard, we followed a gatedroad which led us to a bungalow at the end of agrassy track. The place seemed deserted apartfrom some hens that were scavenging among the vines. A small scrib-bled note in a window informed us “SOLD OUT _ MORE WINE LATERIN THE WEEK”. It was unlikely that we would be passing this way againso if we wanted wine we would have to look elsewhere

Our route eventually led us to Lit-tlehampton, not far from the Body Shop’sTrading Post – some-where we had promisedourselves we would visitand this seemed asgood a time as any. Wecaught sight of Anita

Roddick and her husband patrolling their empireand then, laden with bath oils, perfumes and lo-tions, to say nothing of another cup of coffee - andwe’ll say nothing except it was reminiscent of

A W E E K I N W O R T H I N G

“We caught sight of Anita Roddick and

her husband patrolling their empire”.

…….. lovely as a tree!

The Castle across the meadow – Arundel from the by-pass

Green grass, blue sky, the white outline of a marquee and the pictur-esque outline of a castle – idyllic England on a summer’s afternoon.

of cappuccino al-fresco at one of thetown’s many pave-ment cafes.” and foronce you can believethe publicity.

Another fea-ture in central Wor-thing which we hadnoticed and com-mented on earlier inthe week was the useof old fishing boats as containers for flower displays. Thesemake a welcome sight and add a splash of colour to thepavements. I took the opportunity during our wanderings tophotograph one of them.

There is another area of greenery in the middle oftown bounded by the hairpin shaped Liverpool Terrace

which is popular with picnickers and dog own-ers. If you can pick your way between the drop-pings of both it is quite an attrac-tive area as the picture belowright shows. It’s a shame that asa nation we are not more litterconscious. Anyway after ourmorning sojourn, we travelled ashort distance to one of the high-lights of our holiday –LancingCollege Chapel.

Thur sday – Ou r La st Fu l l Day

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As we did not want to be riding round the country-side too much today due to our journey home the followingday, we spent the morning wandering around the shops inWorthing looking for last minute presents for family andfriends back home. We had to stop of course for the obliga-tory coffee at one of the many coffee houses dotted about

the shopping centre. Most,if not all, had tables andchairs outside for their cus-tomers and as we sat wewere amused by the anticsof seagulls as they beggedfor scraps from the tables.The free visitor guide“Resort ‘98” states that“Worthing’s sunny warmclimate means that mostdays you can sip your cup

A W E E K I N W O R T H I N G

“We were amused by the antics of

seagulls as they begged for scraps

from the tables “

A novel use for a disused fishing boat. This small island of natural beauty right in the centre of Worthing was spoiledby litter.

The obligatory coffee together with a begging gull.

We had arrived in Worthing the pre-vious Friday afternoon and after unpacking,had strolled into the town centre before re-turning to our hotel for our evening meal. Stillwanting to get our bearings and find our wayaround I had decided to take an evening drivealong the coast. Heading off westwards to-wards the setting sun, we had travelled fouror five miles along the coast road and thenturned inland into the urban sprawl thatmakes up the outskirts of Worthing. Retracingour route back to the centre of the town wehad continued along the coast in the oppositedirection as far as Shoreham-On-Sea.

The Ordnance Survey LandrangerMap I had of the area indicated a harbour atShoreham but this turned out to be a commer-cial harbour with freight containers every-where and not at all like the picturesque harbours we had be-come accustomed to on the North Devon and Somersetshoreline in previous years.

As the light began to fade, I had turned the carinland again to return to Worthing on the A27. As I did so, Ihad become aware of a floodlit building on the sea facingslope of the South Downs. “Stately home?”, thought I, “Ormaybe a private institution of some sort”. “Was it open to thepublic?” and “Would we be able to visit it?” were questionsthat also crossed my mind. By now we had reached the A27with the building was on our right. We had come to a stop atsome traffic lights and I had noticed a signpost with the word“Lancing” pointing to the left. Suddenly everything had falleninto place as I remembered catching sight of a leaflet in thehotel reception advertising Lancing College Chapel.

Lancing, once a small village, has now been swal-lowed up by the spread of its bigger neighbour. Surely thisimpressive building on the hillside was something to do with

A Gem Of A Bu il d in gthe College and was possibly the Chapel itself.We had determined there and then to investi-gate further before our holiday was over butdecided, due to its close proximity, to leave ittill later in the week. We did not venture tothis impressive building until the day beforeour return home and what a gem it turnedout to be. It was certainly one of the high-lights of the week and a fitting climax to ourholiday.

Founded by Nathaniel Woodard in1848, Lancing College is a boarding and dayschool for 13-18 years old boys and also forsixth form girls. It is the foremost School of theWoodard Corporation, one of the largestgroups of independent schools in the coun-try, the nearest to our home being in Work-sop, Nottinghamshire. Work on the Chapel

did not commence until 1868 and building work is still notcomplete. We were greeted on arrival at the Chapel by anelderly gentleman whoappeared at the doorof the Verger’s office.He was most apolo-getic as we would notbe able to see thebuilding at its best.Cleaning was in pro-gress, all the chairs hadbeen moved to thesides and woodenplanks formed a rampup to the raised altar.Nevertheless, the splendour of the Chapel was still appar-ent. “Chapel” it may be but it is as grand as any cathedral.The nave soars to an impressive height of ninety feet, andthe beautiful tapestry behind the altar puts (in my humbleopinion) the renowned Graham Sutherland effort in Cov-entry Cathedral to shame.

A W E E K I N W O R T H I N G P A G E 1 9

A richly coloured tapestry adorns the wall behind the altar.

The Gothic features of the Chapel (right) in the grounds of Lancing College.

“It was certainly one of the

highlights of the week and a

fitting climax to our holiday“

Our friendly Verger pointed out the Rose Window at 32feet in diameter, one of the largest in the country. He also told usthat when he first came to Lancing the whole of the west end wasjust corrugated iron. The Rose Window was not installed until 1978.He very kindly gave me a personal guided tour of the Crypt remi-niscing about the war when all manner of things were stored therefor safe-keeping. A German bomb had landed in an adjacent sportsfield narrowly missing the Chapel – someone was certainly watch-ing over them then.

P A G E 2 0A W E E K I N W O R T H I N G

Lo v in g Cr a f t sman sh ip

As soon as you enter the porch, you realise you are in for anarchitectural treat with just one look at the medieval designon the ceiling.

The magnificent soaring lines of the Chapel rise to over ninety feet andlead the eye to the splendid Rose Window installed in 1978

The fine craftsmanship that has gone into the building is evident in the detailed wood carv-ing.

You may have gatheredthat I was quite enamoured byLancing College Chapel. Althoughof recent construction, I would notcall the building “modern”. Thenew entrance incorporates apainted ceiling of medieval designand the Chapel itself was built oflocal sandstone in the Gothic styleof the 13th Century. Already ur-gent stone restoration and repairsare needed. Inside however thelove that has gone into the work-manship is obvious. Craftsmanshipthat I thought had long since beenlost was evident in the wood carv-ing on the screens and the wholeplace exudes a warmth and wel-come. I believe the Chapel to beunique – though old in style it isnew in construction. I could imag-ine myself back in the Middle Ageswhen many churches were con-structed. This is what they wouldbe like. Lancing College Chapel is awonderful building – and all to theGlory Of God.

P A G E 2 1

A Warm Invitation

A W E E K I N W O R T H I N G

“Inside or out, the views of Lancing

are equally impressive”

Even with the chairs pushed to the sides to facilitate cleaning, the Chapel exudes awarm welcome.

Before leaving the Chapel, there was still time toreturn to the nave to admire the splendour of the buildingand then to purchase some postcards (some of which arereproduced below) and a guide book.

Some more visitors arrived including a young cou-ple in a sports car. It transpired that the young man was an

ex student of the College and hehad brought his girlfriend toshow her the Chapel. As theverger and the man began remi-niscing about college life, wetook our leave but not beforethe verger bade us “A safe jour-ney home” and invited us backwhen we would be welcome tojoin them at a service. We

thanked him for his kindness and his welcome and then lefthim to extend the hand of Christian fellowship as evenmore visitors arrived.

Our return journey was short but slow as we en-countered the beginning of the rush hourtraffic. The immediate priority was to fill upwith petrol in preparation for the trip homeon Friday and then it was back to the hotel topack and get ready for our evening meal.

“There was still time to

return to the nave to

admire the splendour”

Pictures Of Lancing

Fr iday – Our Holiday Home

It would be wrong toend our holiday for 1998 with-out mention of our accommoda-tion for the week and our hosts,Mr and Mrs Carver. They hadshown us splendid hospitality,fed us well and had always beenready to offer advice on whereto go and what sights to see. It isdoubtful had it not been for MrCarver’s directions that wewould have ventured to Good-wood and over The Trundlewhen we visited Chichester (orChits-ter as he pronounced it).That would have been a shamesince it had been one of thehighlights of the holiday.

Mr Carver had also rec-ommended the drive along thefoot of the South Downsthrough the pretty villageswhich we followed on our

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return from Devil’sDyke as well as lotsmore local beautyspots, many of which

we were unable to visit in just one week’s visit. Ifwe ever decide to return to Worthing, there areplenty of places that will be well worth a visit.

Mrs Carver too,for her part, played herrole in the background.We generally saw her atmeal tines preparing foodin the kitchen for MrCarver to serve, except onone occasion – his day offto play golf – when shehad to prepare the foodand serve it as well. The food wasgood, wholesome, and there wasplenty of it. Our rooms were al-ways clean and tidy although wewere warned that if we left thewindow open, we would verylikely receive a visit from one of the cats. We werestocked with a good supply of provisions for thatlate night coffee and biscuits or early morningcup of tea and you can’t complain at that.

Together, Mr and Mrs Carver workedhard to make our holiday both enjoyable andmemorable.

The front cover of Mr and Mrs Carver’s brochure for theBonchurch Hotel……..

Not too dissimilar from the brochure, although the fence between the front lawn and the car park hasdisappeared, this photo of the hotel was taken early on the morning of our departure.

…….. and the back showing the lounge, a bedroom and thedining room.

“They had shown us splendid

hospitality, fed us well and

had always been ready to offer

advice “

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A Welcoming Sight

After loading thecar with all our luggageand a hearty breakfast, itwas time to say farewell toour hosts and the otherguests in the hotel beforewinging our way on our

homeward journey to-wards the M25 and M1back to Ilkeston. Weleft behind the wellmanicured frontlawn and carefully tendedand colourful flower beds of the

Bonchurch to return toour own garden

obviously inneed ofsome attention and carefulweeding after our week’sabsence.

Homeward Bound

The Gravel Path

The carefully tended front garden of the Bonchurch Hotel

The Bird Bath

A final look at the flowers in the garden of the hotel thathad been our home for the last seven days and we left Worthing be-hind to set off for Derbyshire. Our homeward journey was relativelyuneventful and we made good time up the motorways.

We had enjoyed our holiday but it was good to be back inthe more familiar surroundings of our home town and to view thewelcoming sight of our own garden.

“It was time to say farewell to our hosts and the other guests in

the hotel.”

THE NEWTON'S ON HOLIDAY

has it right when it says “Worthing – The BestOf Sussex Coast And Countryside”. We’d donea lot in our week away but all those romanticdreams of dramatic sunsets and exciting ex-plorations in unknown landscapes were soonforgotten as we returned to normality of dailylife – there was still the laundry to do! Still, inthe best traditions of all those holiday pro-grammes on TV we’ll finish with a view of the sun reflectingoff the sea near Worthing Pier.

So that’s it for an-other year. We’d plannedit, booked it, looked for-ward to it, experienced itand enjoyed it. But it is be-hind us now and to papa-phrase Lloyd Grosman,“Put those shades away,unpack that luggage – theholiday time is over.” Thebrochure (left) just about

Back To Reality

Like Morecambe goes with Wise and strawberries with

cream, Worthing in August is synonymous with bowls. Host to

the National

Championships

each year, we

were in Wor-

thing in 1998

when the compe-

titions were in

full swing. Al-

though we did

not actually at-

tend the championships we did find time one afternoon to sit

and watch some of the local talent in one of the many parks.

But there is much more to Worthing and East Sussex than

bowls as this journal sets out to prove.

Read and enjoy.

Some of Worthing’s bowling greens in Beach House Park that havehelped to make the town famous and host to the annual NationalChampionships

GN

19 99

A Week inWorthin

g