Joe Mitchell recalls how, during WW2, Brighton fishermen were called up to help evacuate allied soldiers off beaches in Northern France after they were cut off and surrounded by German troops.
“They went to St. Valery actually, they never went to Dunkirk. I know the Doris when she came back was full of bullet holes. The chap that’s just died, Gillman, he repaired the holes, and he repaired them with corks, which he got in the Cork Shop in Gardner Street.”
“We volunteered. We needn’t have gone. No, it was one of those things. There was a war on, you had your army over there. When they was chucking the bombs down we had colanders what you put on your head. Yeah, nothing. Bit of wood, hold a bit of wood up, stop a bullet. My boat got knocked to pieces, and I think they give us three pound ten – but I had to go to Eastbourne to pick it up.”
Continue along Gardner Street, take a left on Church Street and then cross the road and turn right into New Road. Continue along New Road and enter into Pavilion Gardens on your left. Follow the footpath round to the entrance to the Pavilion (The South end) and you will see THE PAVILION ARCHWAY.