It Wasn't Like That in My Day! Deal Loses The Marines and Gains an Army of Interior Designers

Our resident veteran Chuck Unsworth visits the scene of an IRA outrage and mourns the loss of its garrison

I motored over to Deal on the eastern coast of Kent a few days ago.  I like Deal.  It’s a typical slightly run-down coastal town with a long naval and military history.  The low, squat and small castle viewed from the air is the shape of a Tudor Rose.  It’s one of a chain of three such ‘device forts’, the others being Walmer – a favourite residence of the former Queen Mother, which also has some fine gardens – and Sandown, mostly demolished many years ago.  These were built by Henry VIII to house and support artillery, and Deal’s massive stone walls and bleak bastions were and still are a formidable challenge.  Today, cannons still sit on the solid roofs overlooking the shoreline, ready to savage any would-be invaders from Europe with direct fire.

No that isn't Deal! The Band of the Royal Marines hit Broadway.

Slightly set back from the long shingle beach and on the opposite side of the coast road, is a group of large and very fine Georgian buildings – the former military barracks.  Like much of Deal these beautifully proportioned buildings have fallen victim to ‘developers’.  They’ve been modernised and turned into expensive flats.  Elegant table lamps and expensive draperies now appear in its large windows. 

Indeed Deal has come out in a rash of fashionable paint, curtains and wall hangings.  The plasterwork of the terraced cottages has been renewed, windows tastefully replaced, a few Bentleys are scattered on driveways, the latest 4 x 4s, Audis and Mercedes litter the car parks, estate agents have descended on the High Street, and builders and decorators proliferate.  There’s a tangible influx of the wealth of the middle-class weekenders.  Clearly Whitstable on Kent’s north coast is now completely oversubscribed.  At this rate it won’t be long before delicatessens, boutiques and interior decorators shops spring up.

In many ways this is no bad thing.  It’s pleasing to see that things are being decently preserved and kept in good order.  But it is a great pity that the Royal Marines have now finally withdrawn from the town.  Slightly further along the shore, just past the small fishing smacks drawn up on the shingle, and hard by the RNLI station, is the most obvious vestige of their lengthy association with Deal and its people.  Many seaside towns have a bandstand, however Deal’s is a comparatively recent construction.  It was erected in memory of eleven Marine bandsmen.   These young men were killed by a massive bomb, apparently the work of the IRA, which destroyed the recreation centre at the barracks’ School of Music on 22 September 1989.  The names of those killed are shown on plaques on the sides of the stand.  Twenty-two others were injured, eight severely.  As in many other bombings, no one has ever been charged with this outrage.

Now this really is Deal and the bandstand erected in memory of 11 Royal Marines killed in an IRA bomb at their barracks in the town.

A mere seven days after the bombing, the band marched through the town.  As it did so the applauding onlookers noticed the gaps that had been left within the disciplined ranks.  These were the spaces where the fallen would have been marching.  Each summer the Marines hold a memorial concert at the bandstand.  The band from School of Music, which is now housed in Portsmouth, plays to an appreciative, sometimes tearful, and large crowd.

My visit to Deal was on the same day as the memorial service was held at St Paul’s Cathedral in London to honour those who died and were injured during the course of Operation Banner in Northern Ireland.  It is as well to remember that those troubles were not solely confined to Northern Ireland.  Far too many others, including civilians, were killed and hurt on mainland Britain and elsewhere such as Germany, Holland and Belgium.  I do hope that the bustling and prosperous new denizens of Deal have enough sense to take just a little time out from negotiating with their interior designers to learn about and understand its great and moving history.

Comments

[William29]

What a joy to see the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers marching through London (photo Times) resplendent in No 1 dress, not long back from active service and onto the square for rehearsals, and getting kit to pass muster. A confident and proud unit, not much to worry about when you see a unit of this calibre.