THIS IS FINDON —  www.findonvillage.com  created by Valerie Martin, contains scenes from her home village of Findon, West Sussex, U.K.

"WAKEY"

Copyright Valerie Martin 2002.

In the 1920s, Mr and Mrs Frank Wakeham resided at the Wattle House on Nepcote Green with their five children, Evelyn (known as "Flip"), Rosie, Grace, Frank Junior (known as "Ike") and Robin — whose claim to fame is that he was the last baby to be born at the Wattle House before it was condemned.

Frank was a Findon character and known as "Wakey" to customers of the Gun Inn where he worked as a long suffering odd-job man from 1922 and saw eight landlords come and go.   He had a deep tanned face.

Frank, who was an ex-naval man, cycled all the way from Nepcote to Shoreham each day to toil on the sea defences where he was a general labourer for Shoreham and Lancing Sea Defence Commission. It is said that in winter and summer he wore an open necked shirt — he did not ever possess a coat.

Mr and Mrs Wakeham had four children known as Flip, Ike, Rosie and Roddy.  It must have been a tight squeeze to fit them all in at the tiny living space of half the floor sace above the Wattle Store room and one room on the Ground Floor at the abck of tbe building..

Frank Wakeham died in 1964, aged 77.

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This is Findon Village — www.findonvillage.com is a continually growing record created by Valerie Martin exclusively for documenting life in Findon.