The sad passing of a true longstanding Arundel ‘Mullet’
The town lost ‘one of its own’ with the recent passing of 90-year-old Derek Blackman on February 21. Although having not lived in the town in recent years, Derek was an Arundel-born ‘Mullet’ – the name given to those born within the parish boundary.
As part of the longstanding local Blackman family of entertainers who were active locally from the 1800s up until the late 1950s-early 1960s, Derek may be remembered by some as the bass player in the dance band The Melodaires, formed by local resident and saxophonist of the group, Don Ayling in 1949, with George Marchant on vocals.
Some of the older longstanding locals may remember the group playing at the Town Hall, the Priory, the old Drill Hall, St Nicholas Hall, St Mary’s Hall etc. These dance evenings were very popular in the town at the time and the group were asked by the late Duke Bernard and his wife to play for the 2,000 guests at the Arundel Castle New Year’s Eve party for 14 years running.
I had the pleasure of interviewing Derek back in mid-2013 to capture his memories of growing up in Arundel. He and his wife Beryl could not have been more welcoming, and I spent a very enjoyable afternoon listening to some of his fascinating stories.
Derek was born in Arundel at 1 High Street, the Old Bank House, on the opposite corner to the newsagents shop, on June 24, 1928, ‘A Mullet and proud of it!’
“My earliest memories are of swimming in the river and being a Boy Scout. The hut was in Fitzalan Road. My father was Scoutmaster and ended up as Group Scoutmaster. Skipper Phillips was the old Scoutmaster along with Frank Kendall, he used to live down Fitzalan Road.
“I remember going to school with his daughter Beryl as well as Joan Grinyer (my mother – author) and Hazel Booker, who used to live in the post office at Kirdford and Ford Road.
“I don’t know when it happened, but we used to wear big army boots with pouts (studs) on them. We were playing around, and Eric Nash accidently slashed his boot right across my left shin… look here…” (Mr Blackman proceeded to show me his scar from the incident).
Some of the other memories Derek shared with me took place during
World War II when he was in the Jubilee Gardens one Sunday and watched as the sky ‘…turn black with gliders and other aircraft heading over to the D day beaches in France’.”
Another time he was down at his family allotment near Queen’s Lane digging with father when German Stuka dive-bombers attacked the radar station at nearby Poling and the airfield at
Ford. Derek said: “All hell broke loose. The noise was deafening, and I saw the smoke rising from the bombed sites. I could not hit the deck quick enough and just threw myself flat on the ground.
During the war the Home Guards were made up of local chaps from all walks of life. H D Sinclair was the Captain, he used to have a wood business, along the shipyard way. I was in the Army Cadet force, and we were practising shooting, up in the park at the range. We shot the Home Guard off the park. We beat them. Old Captain Sinclair didn’t like that too much.”