Miss Veronica Pitt’s Legacy
An Enlightened Legacy
The future of the Downs with its spacious fields was secured and brought into being by the determination of Miss Veronica Pitt when, in 1964, The Downs School closed and the buildings and grounds passed into the ownership of Seaford Urban District Council. The community-spirited generosity of the school’s last headteacher led her to pledge the gardens on the east side of grounds and the swimming pool (which is no longer) to the community for public walks and pleasure grounds in a Deed of Gift to the people of Seaford. The gardens were intended to be a permanent memorial of to the 63 years of the life of the school. The Downs School Visitor’s Book reveals distinguished luminaries visited the school between 1929–1942, including great composers, virtuosic musicians and an epic explorer. The book which sold for £1,000 at auction in 2015, contains the signatures of composers Sergei Rachmaninoff, Igor Stravinsky, world famous pianists Artur Schnabel and Myra Hess as well as Lt.Col. Victor Haddick who was part of the 1924 British Everest Expedition and whose notable and heroic entry included a verse ‘Lines to Mallory and Irvine’ both who perished on the ill-fated expedition. World famous pianist, Arthur Rubenstein wrote ‘Delighted with the symphonic players’ a truly remarkable testament to the accomplishment of The Downs School. In his book, Seaford and Eastbourne in the Great War, local historian Kevin Gordon mentions the girls were politically aware and their active debating society encouraged them to discuss current affairs. The Downs School Prospectus stated ‘special attention is given to Health and Physical Training’ with tennis, lacrosse and netball amongst the activities on its extensive fields. The Downs School Press Notice 1964 recorded ‘it is difficult to remember a Summer Term without the pool… it gave hours of enjoyment both in and out of work time.’ Whilst ‘afternoons in the Memorial Gardens spent in quiet reading and study will be long remembered. The fragrance of flowering shrubs and the skilful blending of every shade of green with the brilliant splashes of colour of the rose-beds were an endless source of
pleasure.’ No doubt witnessing increasing development everywhere, Miss Pitt wished the endless pleasure of outdoor activity and the open spaces of the Downs to be shared and enjoyed by the people of Seaford. In more distant times, this area was part of a Saxon settlement that later became farmland and common. Historic maps of the Sutton Estate dating from 1624 to recent times show the presence of flint walls and farm outbuildings where the school library (now a residence) stands in Bydown and the school’s laboratory and games store is today home to the active 60+ Club – indicating that these structures could be up to 400 years old! Traces of this historic past and rich cultural heritage seem surprisingly to have escaped historical listing, or notice within an area of local character worthy of conservation. Today, the defining features of the Downs are its Edwardian facades and the open space of the playing field – a landmark feature on the route through Seaford. More hidden and perhaps less known as a public space is the secluded walled Memorial Garden of Miss Pitt, with its lawns, mature trees and shrubs, and a pétanque terrain that is played on throughout the year by active senior members of the community. In fact, the Downs has been handed down to us as a vibrant multi-purpose recreational facility that serves the whole community from the very young to the young at heart. With the assurances of Town, District and Government recognition of green spaces protected within Seaford’s Neighbourhood Plan and policy that supports the whole of the Downs site as a recreation facility, residents have placed their confidence in the Plan with a ‘yes’ vote in the local referendum. Thus, the future of the accessible, inclusive grounds at The Downs survives through the determination of residents inspired by the enlightened and generous contribution of Miss Pitt’s legacy for the quality of life and wellbeing of Seaford. Karen Hall Photo: View of the Downs, Seaford.
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