reminiscing about clothes

By Nicola Benge

Trevor Povey in the flesh

Photo from WRVS Heritage Plus archive

Trevor on the Bluebell Railway

Photo from WRVS Heritage Plus archive

Trevor Povey remembers

Trevor is a Portslade person, born and bred. He spent his halcyon years riding around the area in a leather jacket (on loan from a friend), and on his motorbike, visiting coffee shops before swapping his clobber for army gear and National service....

Millions of miles away

'I worked on a farm at Truleigh Hill, so for me, Brighton was full of strange people!'
At the back entrance of the 'Regent' cinema, (where Boots is now in Brighton), there was a posh coffee bar frequented by kids into fashion - I never was and felt like a country bumpkin. I had everything I needed here in Portslade. The coffee bars did have a juke box, coke, and those Gaggia coffee machines. I used to hang out in Dell's Café and sometimes Rio's in North Street. For a while I frequented the "Soup Kitchen" in Upper Market Street.

What I wore

When I went out, I always wore pegged jeans, stripey jumpers and sweaters, with the sleeves rolled up, or a t-shirt on my motorbike. My going out clobber was no different from my day gear. I had lime green and orange socks, winkle pickers, and in the '60's a duffle coat. 19 bob it cost - a whole lot of money, my favourite fashion house was the Army Surplus Stores in George Street Hove.  I spent a lot of time in a leather jacket, they didn't cost so much then. I did a swap with a mate for it. I used to borrow his leather jacket for months at a time.

Dates to remember

I remember I had to wear shorts on a date once as I had nothing else to wear. The girl's old man ribbed me senseless!'

Christmas time

We went down to my Gran's (at Christmas) so we had to dress up a bit'. We used to pay a penny to make a calendar at Christmas at school. On Christmas Eve, my dad would come home with a tree strapped to the side of his bike. We would all put it up on Christmas Eve and decorate it with real candles and tinsel.  Mum would bake sausage rolls and prepare the dinner, On Christmas day we would open presents, the men would go to the Portland Pub. When they came home they played billiards on the table which would be converted for us to eat dinner off. The men then washed up in the kitchen. On Boxing Day, other family members would come to you; you'd stuff yourself solid over the two days. Cinnamon and nutmeg would be added to the apple pie. Then on the 27th you'd have to go back to work.

Army memories

When I joined the Army I was quite proud of my uniform. In truth I probably looked a right div. My beret was so big that I'm sure that if I could have run fast enough I would have taken off.  Battle dress was still all the rage and the shirt were Khaki K F. I think the K F stood for camel fur, goodness did they itch.

I was an "A" vehicle mechanic" working on tanks. I chose tanks because they were harder to break. I spent most of my time in overalls as black as your hat.
I was pretty fit in those days; you had to be a tank clutch would weigh three hundredweights. I used to wear women's tights on exercise as temperatures were often as low as minus twenty seven degrees. Spanners would stick to your fingers and you would have to put them in warm water to get them off without removing skin.