Derek Stephens on Seaside
So when I was 13, I moved from the Summer Arcade as I thought all sorts of alterations were going on and probably I got bored. Typical teenage boredom, you know, I needed to do something else. My next move was to work in a café at Appley Sands which is not Ryde, this is Shanklin Appley which is the far end of the beach at Shanklin, past Fishermans Cottage and there’s some beach huts there and at the end of the beach huts used to be the Appley Café…
It was owned by Maurice Lanslew who was an ex-Policeman from London and I worked there for a couple of seasons and I remember as I worked there, I also worked … his mother and father had a Café under the Pier, to the right hand side of the Pier and I used to work there as well so sometimes I used to do a morning at Appley and then an afternoon for teas at the one at the Pier and this sort of thing.
Running up and down and doing these sorts of things and I also went there from school, before the summer term broke, so I used to go in the evenings and go down there and work and basically sort of clean and wash up all the crockery because they used to do teas and this sort of thing.
Used to go out on trays and everything covered in sand and then go and find the trays ‘cos nobody put a deposit on anything and bring it all back. And I used to work there and then I went and worked there after school and in the summer holidays.
They used to pay me £5 per week. A lot of money. Mind you, when you think about it I used to work there six days a week plus … in the summer holidays I used to work six days a week and sometimes seven.
We used to go down in the summer holidays and we used to go down to the Appley one and we’d go swimming first thing in the morning. Half past eight we’d go swimming and all the mackerel used to be in the Bay and they used to circle you, all these mackerel as you were swimming.
And then we’d come back in, dry off and open the Café (laughs), Oh dear. ‘Cos I mean when I went to Wadhams at 15, I was still working down the beach that summer and they said, “Well, your wage will be £3 per week” and I said, “Well I’m earning five now” like you do as a teenager, and they said, “Well, this is a permanent job, it’s not a beach job, this is a permanent job for your sort of growing up” so that was it.
