By Lyn Funnell
Newhaven in Sussex has been a route to France for centuries.
It’s an interesting town to visit, so we decided to spend the day there, exploring.
Our first stop was in Norman Road. Terraced houses line both sides of the road, as they have done for over a century.
But the road has been known since 16th November 1974 when Lord Lucan’s Ford Corsair was found abandoned there with a piece of bloodstained lead pipe in the boot after his children’s nanny was found beaten to death.
Lord Lucan was never seen again, but the rumours of where he went and sightings of him are still being told today. He would be 87 if he was still alive.
Our next stop was the West Key Fisheries Ltd, beside the river. It’s still known locally as Bickerstaff’s. It’s been on its present site for 30 years, but it started along the road in a hut 50 years ago.
Kerry Bickerstaff told me that her Grandad used to take out fishing parties. But her Dad and Uncle Bill had the first trawlers. Originally they had seven, but now they’ve only got two.
They fish a mile off the coast and up to halfway across the Channel.
The day I spoke to Kerry, both boats had been blown back to shore the night before.
I couldn’t resist buying a pot of cockles and some filleted sardines. Both lovely and fresh. Their display of fish is irresistible.
I’ll cover the sardines with some chopped garlic and vinegar. The sardines will ‘cook’ naturally in the vinegar, And become Spanish style Boquerones. Delicious.
The land where Bickerstaff’s shop and car park are, used to be wasteland.
Our friend Tim, who sold antiques and bric-a-brac, told me that the fishermen used to dump any rubbish there that they found in their nets and Tim was welcome to help himself.
He found old anchors, propellers, bits of aircraft, and lots more.
I couldn’t find out what happens to the rubbish now.
Most people know that Ho Chi Minh became the revolutionary leader of North Vietnam in 1946 and was responsible for the deaths of over 1,000,000 people.
But not many people know that he worked on the Newhaven-Dieppe ferries as a pastry chef after the First World War!
Apparently, since France had run Vietnam, Vietnam was noted for its bread and patisserie.
In 2023 a plaque was erected to celebrate Ho Chi Minh’s 123rd birthday, and also 100 years since he had arrived in the UK.
I had heard about this plaque, but I couldn’t find it, and nobody who I asked had heard of it.
In the end, I found it at the end of the West Quay, facing out to sea.
I got the impression that although Newhaven wanted cordial relations with Vietnam, they weren’t in a hurry to display the plaque anywhere clearly in view.
