Hayling Island By Heart: The Billy Line, Beach Huts & Island Memories
On 2 November 1963, the last Hayling Billy ran.
For almost a hundred years a little train carried holidaymakers from Havant over a wooden bridge at twenty miles an hour, buckets and spades on every lap. Then the bridge needed replacing, the cost was judged too high, and the line closed. People on the island still talk about it like it was last week.
Hayling has always been changing, and it is changing again. So we've written down the island people actually remember: the Billy, the beach huts and whose was whose, Funland, the ferry to Eastney, the brent geese coming back every winter, and the old yew at St Mary's that has seen all of it.
Hayling Island By Heart is a book of island stories, places and memories, written for islanders, for the families who came every summer, and for anyone who knew the holiday had started the moment they went over the bridge.
Inside you'll find:
- The Hayling Billy from 1867 to its last run, and why the little engines had to be so little
- Twenty miles an hour over Langstone, and the Billy Trail you can walk today
- Eastoke, the beach huts, Funland and the seafront
- Sinah, the dunes, West Beach at low tide and the ferry to Eastney
- Mengham, Northney, St Mary's and the old yew
- The holiday camps, the windsurfing story, and Hayling in winter
Who it's for: Haylingites, families who came every summer, anyone who ever rode the Billy or had a nan who did. A lovely gift for someone who still talks about the island the way it was.
What you get: 20 chapters, about 60 pages, as a PDF you can read on your phone, tablet or computer, or print at home. Any corrections and new memories added later are sent to you free.
This is an ebook (a digital download), so nothing is posted. Your download link arrives straight after checkout. Made by Roots & Routes, a small independent shop.