The Seabrook Chronicle, the edition of Thursday 26 February 2026

Est. 1878 Incorporating the Hartbury Advertiser

Council

Car park machine prints wrong year

Tickets at Harbour Road have been dated 2011 since the new machine came into use. An engineer has been once. The supplier will be written to a third time.

The new pay-and-display machine at the Harbour Road car park has printed the year 2011 on its tickets since 2 January, a Council committee has been told.

By Lydia Crane

Seabrook Pier

Pier opens for season next month

The arcade will open at weekends in March and every day from Good Friday.

Seabrook Pier opens for the season in March. The arcade will open at weekends and then every day from Good Friday, 3 April, the Town Council has confirmed.

By Lydia Crane

Seabrook Gardens

Bandstand to be ready for first concert

The roof is on and the ironwork is next. The fence stays until the paint is dry.

The restoration of the bandstand in Seabrook Gardens will be finished in time for the first concert of the season in May, a Council committee has heard.

Staff reporter

Hartbury road

Town sign altered again

The additions were found on Monday morning and had gone by Tuesday afternoon.

The sign that welcomes visitors to Seabrook was found on Monday to have been altered, with additions, for the fourth time since the autumn.

Staff reporter

Harbour

Harbour dues held for another year

The winter repairs to the quay are finished and the channel needs no dredging this year.

Harbour dues at Seabrook stay at last year’s rates, the harbourmaster told the annual meeting of harbour users. Winter repairs to the quay are complete.

By Lydia Crane

Hartbury court

West Seabrook man fined for speeding at bridge

Three cases were heard at Hartbury on Monday. All three defendants admitted the offences.

A West Seabrook man was fined £120 at Hartbury for driving at 43 miles an hour over the old stone bridge. Two Hartbury residents were also fined.

Staff reporter

Letters to the Editor

Letters: the car park machine, an awning and the gulls

Colonel Withers writes on the Harbour Road machine, Mr Barfield on a planning application and Mrs Stott on the gulls.

Letters to the Editor this week concern the Harbour Road car park machine, a planning application for a wider awning on the High Street, and the gulls.

Flower show

Marrow class heads flower show schedule

The schedule for August is out. Growers are reminded that a show marrow is not grown in a hurry.

The schedule for the Seabrook Flower Show in August is now available. The marrow class is unchanged and the heaviest marrow wins.

Historical Society

The crossing before the bridge

What is recorded of the wooden bridge over the River Seabrook, and what is only said.

The stone bridge on the Hartbury road dates from about 1748. The Seabrook Historical Society sets out what is known of the wooden bridge before it.

By Seabrook Historical Society

From the archive, 1924

Magician’s case found at harbour mouth

A travelling magician left the stage of the pier theatre on a Saturday night and walked along the pier. A reprint from the Chronicle of 1924.

From the Chronicle of 1924: a wooden case taken from the harbour mouth is identified as the property of a magician missing from the pier theatre.

From the archive, 1956

Fire destroys Chronicle office

The notice printed on the front page of the first issue after the fire, which was set and printed at Hartbury.

From the Chronicle of 1956: the paper tells its readers that its office has burned down, that the year’s file is lost, and that it will appear as usual.

From the archive, 1982

Lighthouse keeper found dead

The light was not showing on the Wednesday night. A reprint from the Chronicle of 1982.

From the Chronicle of 1982: the keeper of Seabrook lighthouse is found dead in the tower after a night on which the light was not shown.

Tides

How to read the Chronicle tide table

Two high waters on most days, each about fifty minutes later than the day before. The table is a prediction.

A postcard of Seabrook harbour at low water: five fishing boats aground on the mud inside the wall, lobster pots stacked on the quay and four gulls on the railing.

The Seabrook Chronicle prints the times of high water at the harbour mouth each week. The Editor explains springs, neaps, low water and what the wind does.

Gareth Price

Market Square

Thursday market: hours, pitches and rules

Every Thursday from eight until two. The fish is usually gone by ten.

Seabrook market is held in Market Square every Thursday from eight in the morning until two. A guide to the pitches, the rules and where to leave the car.

Staff reporter

In brief

Harbour Road

Five tickets, each dated 2011

Five tickets bought at the Harbour Road car park machine between 3 January and 14 February each give the right day and month and the year 2011.

A.P.

From the Editor

The Chronicle is a thin paper in February and makes no apology for it. A weekly newspaper prints what has happened. In the last week of February what has happened is a committee meeting, a court sitting and the weather, and all three are reported inside.

Letters for publication should reach the High Street office by noon on Tuesday, with a name and an address. Small advertisements close at the same hour.

Gareth Price, Editor

Notices and advertisements

Weather and tides

Readings taken at the harbourmaster’s office. High water is given for the harbour mouth.

  • The week past

    Rain fell on five days of the seven. The warmest afternoon was Sunday, at 10°C. The coldest night was Wednesday, at 1°C, with frost on the Hartbury road. The wind stayed in the west and was strong on Friday. Rainfall for the week was 19 mm.

  • The outlook

    Showers on Thursday and Friday, clearing from the west. Saturday dry and cold, with frost inland overnight. Sunday bright. Wind westerly, backing south-west by Monday.

  • High water

    Thursday 26 February: 12.48 am and 1.26 pm. Friday 27: 2.07 am and 2.44 pm. Saturday 28: 3.19 am and 3.47 pm. Sunday 1 March: 4.14 am and 4.36 pm. Monday 2: 4.58 am and 5.17 pm. Tuesday 3: 5.37 am and 5.55 pm. Wednesday 4: 6.14 am and 6.31 pm. The tides are at neaps this week. Springs follow on Thursday 5 March.

  • Sun and moon

    The sun rises on Thursday at 6.59 am and sets at 5.45 pm. Lighting-up time is 6.15 pm. The moon was at first quarter on Tuesday and will be full on Tuesday 3 March.

Church and society notices

Notices from the churches and societies of the town. Copy by noon on Tuesday.

  • All Hallows Church

    Sunday 1 March, the Second Sunday of Lent. Holy Communion at 8 am. Parish Communion at 10.30 am. Evensong at 6 pm. The Reverend Jonathan Hale. Lent lunches are served in the church hall on Wednesdays at 12.30 pm: soup, bread and cheese. Mothering Sunday is 15 March, and helpers are wanted in the church hall on the Saturday morning to make up the posies.

  • Seabrook Women’s Institute

    Meets in the church hall on the second Tuesday of the month at 7.30 pm. The March speaker will talk on the care of house plants. Visitors are welcome. Enquiries to Jean Hartley.

  • Seabrook Historical Society

    The Society’s room above the library is open to members on Tuesday afternoons from 2 pm to 4 pm. The annual general meeting will be held in April, on a date to be given in this column. Subscriptions for the year are now due.

  • Pancake race

    The organisers of the pancake race on the High Street on Shrove Tuesday thank the shopkeepers who lent pans and the police who closed the road for twenty minutes. One pan has not been reclaimed. See Classified advertisements.

  • In memoriam

    1903. All Hallows churchyard. Remembered.

Planning applications

Lodged with the Council and open to inspection at the Town Hall. Comments must be made in writing within twenty-one days.

  • 26/0031. The Seabrook Bakery, High Street. Replacement of shop awning, green, to project 4 ft 6 in over the footway.

  • 26/0034. 3 Market Lane. Replacement of two first-floor sash windows, like for like.

  • 26/0036. 2 Riverside Cottages. Garden shed, timber, 6 ft by 4 ft.

  • 25/0212. Harbour Road car park. Details of surfacing and marking out under condition 4. Deferred from January.

Classified advertisements

Received at the Chronicle office, High Street, until noon on Tuesday. Replies to box numbers should be addressed to the office.

  • PLUMBER. Emergency callouts, day or night. Burst pipes, tanks and taps. Box 12.

  • DOG WALKER available, mornings. References supplied. Box 27.

  • PIANO TUNING. Uprights and grands. In Seabrook on the first Wednesday of each month. Box 8.

  • FREE TO COLLECTOR. Upright piano. Collector to arrange removal from a first-floor room. Most notes play. Box 41.

  • SEASONED LOGS. Ash and oak, split. Delivered in Seabrook and Hartbury by the barrow load or the trailer load. Box 19.

  • FOR SALE. Gentleman’s bicycle, black, three gears, with basket. One owner since 1991. £40. Box 33.

  • TAROT. Readings by appointment, evenings only. Box 5.

  • TO LET. Lock-up garage off Harbour Road. Dry. £15 a week. Box 22.

  • WANTED. Boy or girl for a morning paper round in West Seabrook. Own bicycle needed. Apply Seabrook News and Post, High Street.

  • LOST. Brown leather glove, left hand, on the sea wall or the High Street, Tuesday 17 February. Box 9.

  • JUMBLE WANTED for the All Hallows spring sale. Clean clothes, books and china. No electrical goods. Leave at the church hall on weekday mornings.

  • PENROSE INVESTIGATIONS

    All mysteries great and small

    Discreet enquiries undertaken

  • FOUND. One frying pan, High Street, after the pancake race on Shrove Tuesday. May be claimed at the Chronicle office.