📢 TALL SHIP MORGENSTER VISITS SHOREHAM PORT FOR BANK HOLIDAY WEEKEND 📢 Click here for more information
Written by 20 May 2026
It was a sunny bank holiday in May more than 65 years ago when Christine Bull, aged 13, her sister Lynda, aged 11, and her friend Maureen, also 13, set out for the opening ceremony of the Prince Philip lock at Shoreham Port.
The streets were lined with people hoping for a glimpse of the Prince. Joined by Lynda’s friend David, the three of them headed for the waterside near Nautilus House.Â
“A woman was going up and down selling flags, and poms-poms made of shredded paper,” Christine said. The three young people bought some to wave.
A large smart car arrived, bearing Prince Philip through the excited crowd. It passed the people and headed through some gates to the lock. Then the gates were shut. “All the dignitaries were inside, but we couldn’t get in,” Christine said. “We could hear the voices on the PA system.”
After some speeches, Prince Philip and the rest of the party climbed into a boat and sailed down the canal.Â
“We children decided to run alongside. In those days, there was a grassy path along the canal side. We waved our flags as we ran.”
Prince Philip spotted the little group of children from the boat. “He pointed and waved to us,” Christine said. “We were absolutely thrilled!”
Christine, who still lives in Shoreham, also remembers the gymnastics display by the town’s gymnastic club in their voluminous white shorts. “It was a bit like Diversity with chairs,” she said.
Maureen’s brother was in the gymnastics club, which at the time was all boys, but he just missed out on being part of the royal display, as he had left to play football.
Christine’s family lived in what was Buci Crescent in Shoreham when she was growing up. “We could always hear the dredger from the house through the night. They had to deepen the harbour,” she said.
“We used to like to look at the ships in the dry dock,” Christine added.
Behind the present Royal George pub, off the Holmbush roundabout, there was a farm where the children used to play. The current herb estate is named after a market garden where herbs and flowers were grown for sale.
