Further to Mrs Pam Rawling recalling from her younger days the "navvy" father walking his daughters on the seafront each Sunday morning (Letters, July 21), his name was Bonwick and he was known locally as "Shony" Bonwick.
He lived in Hendon Street, Kemp Town. I was born in Hendon Street and lived there until I was seven, when my parents bought a house in Sutherland Road. My father, the late W J Mitchell, was one of the oldest trading names in Kemp Town, establishing his building business in 1919. His yard and workshop in St George's Road were formerly a coach house and stabling for one of the fashionable residences on Marine Parade.
At the time of which I write (the early Thirties), one could set the clock on a Sunday morning by the hour "Shony" Bonwick left his house with his daughters. The girls were spruced up to the highest degree in their red dresses, white starched pinafores, shining shoes and spotlessly clean hair, curled and beribboned.
Walking along the seafront, "Shony" and his daughters received much admiration from well-wishers and passers-by, who often gave gifts of money to the children.
Another activity of "Shony's" was trapping rabbits on the Downs and one could see his nets hung out to dry on the hedge down Sutherland Road if the weather had been wet.
-Arthur J Mitchell, St George's Road, Kemp Town
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