Nuclear War Sirens in Hastings

[JackieButtons]

Hi there. New user here! Can anyone tell me if there were ever any air raid sirens sited in Hastings, during the Cold War of the 1950s? I'm trying to track down a location in a photo, which says it's in Hastings, and there's a post nearby that I suspect may be a siren.

Cheers

JB

[whiffler]

I don't remember any, but I only arrived late 50s.

The Soviet Union had maps marked for important site ... the East Hill lift is marked as a fortification. Perhaps they mis-took it for the Novelty Rock Emporium.

Can you load the photo ?

[Gerry Glyde]

I seem to remember that there were tests in the late 50s but it might be a false memory

[grandma]

I was at school in Hastings during the early 1950's and there were definitely regular siren warnings....I remember them well, as our dog at the time, used to howl along with the siren making a terrible noise....he wouldn't stop until the siren did.

[JackieButtons]

Here it is. It's a link to a twitter feed.

https://twitter.com/Onionwoman/status/6 ... 4586743808

Does anyone know what park this might have been, and which road that is behind the railings?

-JB

[whiffler]

Having blown that up, I cannot think where there is a building or terrace so long and so level as that on the skyline.

Police box inside the railings is unexpected

Behind the railings, looks like some kind of cylinders stacked up.

[JackieButtons]

Of course there's always the possibility that it wasn't taken in Hastings at all. The mum in the photo is most likely no longer with us (it was just over 60 years ago) and it may be that she was the one who said where the photo was taken.

We're obviously looking at the back of the police box here, so the front of it opens up onto a main road on the other side of the railings. I'm not sure that it's a terrace beyond those railings either, as there's a picket fence at the front of the billboard, plus what looks like overgrown weeds. It looks to me like a patch of industrial waste ground, with possibly some factory units in the background.

[Geoff]

I am struggling too. Just can't place this photo. The chimneys in the background are unusual, definitely doesn't look residential to me.

[Oldhands mike]

HI
I remember these frequently going off in the 1960's-they seem to have been activated every time the fire appliances need to attend a fire ,maybe they were used to call the fire crews to the station,particulary those using the Halton fire station.the sirens were mounted on top of telegraph poles at locations around the town,
Last one I saw was in Battle road at the top end,in a twitten ,opposite the last pub out of the town.

[Richard Pollard]

Hi, I have been away from the site for some considerable time and now back to try and answer some questions.
I do know for a fact that when I worked at the Hastings Power Station in Fir Tree Road there was a siren on the roof which we had to service frequently for the Ministry, and this was tested twice a year. There is yet one more that I know of and that is at the top of Briars Avenue corner of Sedlescombe Road North mounted on top of a telegraph pole, this was used during the war also as an Air-Raid warning siren, but was converted in the 50s as a Nuclear warning device; I was told that the fan blades were altered to change the sound, now is that fact or fiction I don't know! And of course the controlling equipment was changed so that there was a continuous sound rather than two alerts??
I had spoke to a couple of people who have lived in the area told me that they too had heard the siren go off during the late 60s and into the mid 70s.
During my time with Hastings Police there was a 3 minute warning device on the wall in the control room, that if this bleeped loudly you pressed the red button on the front panel which activated the towns sirens then you were all supposed to take cover! Well that was the theory any way!!

Hope this will enlighten some one?