I'm very happy here

Wally Hook
Jake on the Downs

My name is Walter Hook and I am profoundly deaf. I live in a sheltered flat in Brighton and I am very happy there. I moved to Brighton in the 1970s from London, I am staying permanently here in Brighton. I like Brighton because it’s a nice place to live, there are lots of events and festivals all year and it’s a very good for rambling, there are plenty of good places to ramble.

I enjoying taking my dog Jake with me, our best place is over the Downs. We both enjoy the views and the lovely fresh air. I would never move back to London again as it’s much too busy and over-crowded. I miss all my friends but I visit them frequently.

Comments about this page

  • I must agree with Wally about the Downs being a favourite place. In the 40s and 50s our Downs were above East Brighton Park. Just over the hills was Ovingdean, another playground. The golf course had 2 or 3 bomb craters that we played soldiers in. In the summer we used pieces of cardboard rubbed with a candle to make it slippy and zoomed from the top to the bottom, and then back up again for some more. It always snowed in the winter then and we would get hold of bits of lino or trays and thunder down to the bottom on the snow. There were very few fat kids then, we were too busy running around. A few years ago I took some of my grand kids to the park to show them where I played as a kid. The scars from those bits of cardboard are still there after all those years. And so are the scars of the paths we used to go back up to the top again. In those days we did not have very much at all. Just full bellies and lots of fun. I think that the kids of today miss the sort of fun that we had. We didn’t feel the need to carry any weapons, and we didn’t feel the need to vandalise anything either.

    By Mick Peirson (19/12/2006)

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