Viva Lewes Issue #147 December 2018

INSIDE LEFT
The ladies football team from the Seaplane Sheds Factory in Newhaven in 1917 (ACC 8691/1) has
been reproduced with the permission of East Sussex Record Office, copyright reserved.
SEAPLANE LADIES
This cheery-looking bunch of young women
would have been even more colourful in real
life: from the caption accompanying this
photo we understand their shirts were yellow,
and skirts navy blue. We can only imagine the
colour of their ties and hats. But who are they?
Meet the Newhaven Seaplane Station ladies’
football team, 1917.
Newhaven was an important port in WW1,
used to transport vital supplies to Boulogne.
The ships were a target for German U-Boats,
and so needed accompaniment from seaplanes
whose crews were trained to spot and sink the
submarines. From May 1917, an airbase was
set up half a mile east of Newhaven, to cater
for a dozen or so of these seaplanes. When
fully operational, the station was the workplace
for 194 staff, including 34 women.
Entertainment and exercise were vital for
morale, and Newhaven Town FC’s pitch was
requisitioned for use by service personnel,
so we assume this is where they played their
matches. The caption reads: ‘Seaplane Sheds
Factory. Ladys [sic] football team’ and goes on
to name some of the players: ‘Hilda Goudhurst;
Mabal Goudhurst; Mabal Marchant;
Rose Holobone; Marjorie Putland; Lilian Lee;
Bessy Brown. Rest not known’. It doesn’t say
who’s who. The picture came from The East
Sussex Record Office in Moulsecoomb via
Rosy Matheson from Lewes FC. Reeves are
putting on a new exhibition in the Town Hall
as part of their Through a Glass Plate project
on suffragettes (see pg 36). Lewes FC – the
only club in the world to pay women as much
as men – are contributing a display of photos
and memorabilia telling the story of women’s
football, from the 19th century to now.
Perhaps the picture will give you some ideas
on how to dress for another event being organised
by the club: spectators for the match
between Lewes FC Women and Charlton
Athletic on the 9th are encouraged to dress up
to celebrate suffrage, to mark the hundredth
anniversary of women getting the vote. In
addition, on Dec 2nd, Helen Pankhurst, the
great grand-daughter of suffragette activist
Emmeline Pankhurst, is making an appearance
at the Dripping Pan prior to the Rooks’
match against Manchester United. Alex Leith
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