Books form indelible record of what it was like to live in another age

Many of the publications are now sadly out of print but are still available within the library service either in the reference or lending sections. This does not include the local history society newsletters.

The earliest publication I have is A Fortnight in September written by R C Sherriff in 1931, which tells the story of a family coming to Bogor Regis for a fortnight's holiday. It is a superb book and provides a delightful insight into the original seaside, bucket and spade holiday.

How many people are aware of the History of Pagham, written by Lindsey Fleming?

This three-volume publication was published in 1949 and is a definitive book delving into aspects of history back to 680 AD and crosses the area from Pagham to Elmer.

It contains invaluable information in a very detailed manner, which can form the basis of more recent information and is also useful for family historians. Gerard Young of course was the most prolific writer about our area with his popular books based around the Flansham area and his work culminated in the History of Bognor Regis, which was published in 1993. Gerard is well known for his local history publications, on which many more recently produced articles are based, or certainly we can use them as a base on which to build the more recent information.

While I was endeavouring to record the publication dates for many publications, it was interesting to find that so many books have been published without any publication date '“ all historians should know better for the benefit of future researchers.

For the size of our population it is interesting to see how many publications are historical books, photographic views, or '˜Now and Then' types of publications '“ I have not even attempted to list the excellent novels that have been written such as Shripney Lady by Rosalind Laker through to the most recent by Beryl Kingston's The Gates of Paradise about William Blake.

We are blessed that so many people think we have an interesting backdrop for a novel or publication.

In the early days of the Bognor Regis Local History Society one member, Charles Butler, contributed publications which contained detailed sketches while other members produced a wide range of interesting publications on specific aspects of the town, such as schools.

Local organisations have also produced booklets such as the History of Staffurth & Bray, Middleton Sports Club, Bognor Regis Theatre Club and the Bowls Club.

During the three years of Festival of Local History our aim was to encourage everyone to collate and produce their history and thus these types of books are vital.

I regularly receive emails about smaller aspects of our history '“ who lived where, what was there then '“ and it is important for these things to be recorded or they will be lost forever.

One gentleman I met had produced a history of his house for the next owners '“ I envied them. There is the Felpham and Middleton Local History group who have produced some really interesting books, Felpham by the Sea, Walk around Middleton & Elmer and the Incoming Tide. There are other people who have concentrated on certain areas of their own interest, such as Gone to Blazes telling the history of the Fire service by Steve Jordan.

Another is Gwen Stabler who continues with her own particular interest of the Aldwick and Craigweil areas. These books are always eagerly awaited by residents of the area.

Mr & Mrs Gowler who are members of the Local History Society have carried out the most detailed and informative research on early traders, professions, trades, traders and the gentility of Glamis St and finally Lyon and William St.

These books are not the most visually interesting, but are ideal reference books as they contain a great amount of information and detailed statistics, however they fill a much needed gap that many of us (me included) find vital to our research.

Photographic images are always welcome either in a '˜Now and Then' format or a historical view of the town or memories and these have been covered by James Cartland, Robert Harmer, Vanessa Mills and Sylvia Olliver.

There was also a book on the history of Nyewood School produced by Roger Wardale and one on South Bersted School which was recorded by Ron Iden.

Interestingly, as I visit various Women's Institutes, I discovered how they as an organisation are helping with the retention of information. The Aldwick group produced a copy of their early minutes which cover the war years, and the District WI produced a photographic record of memories and members' personal images.

Even our railway has been well covered with The Bognor Branch Line by S Jordan and the Middleton press series which covers the dev- elopment of the line

into and around Bognor

Regis.

Airfields have been covered by M H Goodall on The Norman Thompson File and my book It Started with a map about the Bognor ALG north of Bognor. This one is still available.

I am sure that I will have omitted a writer or publication of which you know, but this is only my collection, and I would welcome any information on other publications as I am trying to build a record of as many books as possible that have been published about our area. However I am now pleased to advise that there is a new publication out this week named Reflections of Bognor Regis, which covers the area from Pagham to Elmer.

It is a compilation of 200 images '“ advertisements, sketches, pictures and postcards '“ by Shirley Lewis and myself in our first joint book publication. We will be having a book signing this Sunday, (April 29) at Unique Promotions, 8 The Arcade, Bognor from 11am as well as at Russell & Russell in Middleton-on-Sea on Friday, June 8, from 6.30pm. (Book costs 12.99, published by Tempus).

We trust that everyone will be pleased with the result of our work as much of the information has been supplied by so many residents.