The
Simply
Whitstable
Web Site

Week Commencing 11/8/08: Page 1

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SW Transfer Progress

The transfer of the web site to our new location at www.simplywhitstable.com is taking a little longer than expected. I always knew that relocating hundreds of pages and photos would be a daunting prospect but the real problem is that I have discovered that much of the material needs updating and/or reformatting. At the same time, we need to keep a steady flow of new articles.

As a result, I am now splitting my time between transfer and new development tasks. Hopefully, this temporary phase will soon pass!

New Article... The Oyster Industry

Apart from this Chat Column, we now have a new item on the Oyster Industry of bygone days. This incorporates a series of article by John Harman combined with anecdotes from past Visitors Book entries and some photographs from other contributors.

This new section is something that I have wanted to include for some time as it gives a local view of an industry that I didn't really know much about... despite being born and raised in town!

I would like to thank John for making it possible via a lot of hard work out in Canada. Quite frankly I am absolutely amazed by the combined skills of SW readers/contributors. John's hand drawn illustrations are amazing.

You can view the oyster article by clicking here. 

A Peter Cushing Article?

I have always avoided the task of writing an article on Peter Cushing.... simply because we would be competing with some excellent books penned by people who have the time to research the subject.

However, during the week, I received a very welcome Visitors Book entry from Justin Gayner who is a producer of the BBC's QI program. He very kindly provided a link to an amusing video clip about Peter Cushing on his web site at channelflip.com . I won't spoil it for you by describing the content. I'll simply let you watch it for yourself at the following link.....

http://www.channelflip.com:80/2008/07/31/peter-cushing/

I just love the humour involved... because it really does sum up the situation in the 1950s/1960s. Everyone who was nobody locally (and I mean that in the nicest sense) claimed to have seen or spoken to Peter Cushing. That observation has now given me an idea. We simply don't have to produce an article on Peter's life or career. All we need to do is to collect anecdotes and stories from our readers. If we do that, we should end up with an article with a wholly Whitstable perspective.

Now, let me just say that I am the one Whitstable Native who NEVER met Peter, NEVER spoke to Peter and NEVER saw Peter. In fact, I don't think I would have recognised Peter if I had bumped into him at the Charlie Knowles' veg counter. Let's face it... at the age of just 10, I wasn't allowed to watch Hammer House of Horror films.

As far as I am concerned, this makes me uniquely qualified amongst Natives to pass the first few comments. So I will.... and I'll start by addressing the key question.... Why was Peter Cushing so revered amongst local people?

There are, of course, some simple answers. He was a lovely guy who slotted into the community..... by being ordinary and famous at the same time. After all, he rode his bike around the streets, had his dinner (not lunch) in the Tudor Cafe, shopped in the High Street and was always willing to have a chat.

I'll go along with that as half an answer... but it isn't enough to explain it all.

For me, it is necessary to consider the era in which he came to the town. That was back in the mid-late 1950s. Whitstable was in decline with the loss of maritime and other industries. The beach was becoming an eyesore (as were many of the central areas of town) and Whitstable was the butt of many a joke from the residents of other Kent towns. 

What we retained was our strong sense of community and our pride in that community. Amidst all the decline, Peter Cushing ignored the shabby image, chose our town as his home and was always quick to praise its people. It was like some royal seal of approval and it was a boost to our pride at a time when our confidence was sagging. Irrespective of what happened to anything else around the place, we could always offset derogatory remarks with the retort.... "But Peter Cushing lives 'ere".

Peter was also permanent. Like the rest of us, he rode out the bad times and enjoyed the good ones. As  aresult, a very special bond was forged and it was one that brought the town centre to a halt when he made his final journey through our streets.

Am I right in my assessment? Well, it's over to you for discussion!

But I am not wholly finished yet. If we have any people in the film or broadcasting industry looking in, I would very much appreciate their help. 

I have this feeling that Peter spoke as often about Whitstable to his professional colleagues as Whitstable did about him. In saying this, my mind goes back to his appearances in the classic Morecambe and Wise epics. At the end of one show, the credits listed guest stars and mentioned where they were currently working. Amidst all the hype about "xxx is now appearing in Aladdin at the London Palladium" etc, there was the simple statement that "Peter Cushing lives in Whitstable". 

So come on spill the beans! What was the joke all about! ;-)  

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