Interviewee: Alison Renee Pont                                        DOB: 2.10.1933

Maiden Name: Moore                                                         Place of birth: Eastbourne, East Sussex

Family moved to Hastings before Alison was 5. Lived in Parker Road.

Went to Mount Pleasant School, then Hollington Juniors and Tower Road Senior School.

Camped in Ecclesbourne Glen around 1935.

During a slump in work in Hastings, the family moved to Ashford, Kent.

During the war, she was evacuated to Eastbourne to stay with her Grandma but went back to Hastings when Grandma died of leukaemia.

Watched all the V2 rockets and doodlebugs going over. Had an Anderson shelter in the garden at her Grandma’s but had a Morrison shelter at her home in Hastings.

Her dad was a carpenter and had a DIY wood shop in Ore. The first houses that were built in Fairlight Cove didn’t have cupboards so Alison’s dad came down and advised on what wood to use etc.

He was a founder of Fairlight Bowls Club although he still lived in Hastings. Alison and her mother used to help raise funds for the Bowls Club by helping at Jumble sales in the Village Hall.

Alison left school at 14 and became a hairdresser in Hastings. She did three years training and then two fully qualified. She then started working from home and did that for 40 years.

In 1954 Alison married Robert Edgar Pont. He was from Hastings and they met over a love of sport. He was a keen footballer.

They had Wendy in 1955 and her brother four years later. Alison had bad arthritis in her hips so decided not to have any more children. However when she went to work in a Children’s home, she met and fostered two girls (sisters??) who became and still are part of their family. The girls’ grandmother asked Alison and her husband not to let them call them Mum and Dad but instead Auntie and Uncle as that means more. They carried this on all their lives but now it tends to be Nanny! One of the girls has seven children! Lots of grandchildren and great grandchildren. 

In 2005 Robert died and Wendy asked Alison to move in with her family in Fairlight but Alison wanted to give it five years to see how she managed. She was already a member of Fairlight Floral Club.

In 2010 Alison moved in with Wendy. Ken, Wendy’s husband, was born in Scotland but grew up in Fairlight. His family house was called Sealands.