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AN INTRODUCTION
( done this before? – CLICK HERE )
KEITH AND YOUNGER BROTHER LEN c.1955
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Many years ago Keith Hart created a website to record his first and later memories of Westbourne village. Thereafter it grew into a remarkable solo effort to capture the history of people, organisations and events in the village.
KEITH AND SISTER MARY c.1955
The years are taking their toll on Keith as with so many of us, and thus he and his family have asked the Group if we would host a reproduction of his wonderful work. We have been delighted to have been able to agree, not least due to fantastic support from our hosting provider, Host100.
It is intended to maintain it as an archive, as untouched as possible, for posterity.
Now a little about Keith:-
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Keith Sydney Hart was born in Portsmouth in 1934. He had two siblings, an older sister Mary and a younger brother Leonard.
His parents were Walter Sydney Hart (draughtsman and electrician) and Dulcie Winifred Hart ( domestic).
They initially moved to Emsworth as war broke out and, after a spell in the Grange (ex-workhouse), the family settled into Rosebank, Commonside, facing School Lane.
His mother continued there until 1998 when she moved to Plymouth to be with the family.
Keith attended the local primary school and then secondary school in Chichester. He did not find school very interesting and was often absent or given tasks such as mending school tables and chairs to keep him out of “mischief” !
He unexpectedly performed well in his exams and earned a four-year apprenticeship at Portsmouth Dockyard. He attended Durham University, earning a degree in Naval Architecture, then completed a Master’s at Greenwich, joined the Royal Navy and married Margaret whom he met whilst at University.
Keith had a successful career in the Royal Navy and spent many years at HMS Sultan and Collingwood in Portsmouth and latterly at the Royal Naval College, Manadon in Plymouth finally retiring as a Commander.
He developed an interest in family history and taught himself web design. He often recalls his happy memories of Westbourne, as do all of the Hart offspring….. catching tiddlers in the Brook and playing on the swings at the top of Monks Hill are some of the family’s fondest memories. With his family’s encouragement he created a website to document memories of Westbourne and his childhood there.
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To go to Keith’s Archive, Click Here