Lifelong friends who grew up together in Worthing celebrate Platinum Jubilee of friendship

Mrs Jill Brock from Climping and Mrs Sandy Wheeler from Findon Valley have been ‘very best friends’ almost all their lives and have seen each other through the highs and lows of life.

They are both 74, though Jill is six months older, and first met at West Park Infant School when they started school in September 1952.

They still remember lining up to receive their coronation mugs in 1953 and are thrilled to share their special anniversary with Her Majesty.

Jill and Sandy both lived on the Maybridge Estate and would often play together, although it was really at West Park Junior School and then Worthing County Secondary School for Girls that their friendship grew.

Sandy said: “We don’t really remember much about infant school but we would have played together in the playground and the friendship built up from there.

“We both took the 11-plus but we didn’t pass, so we went to the secondary modern. That was what cemented our friendship.”

As girls, the pair loved dressing up and Jill remembers them walking up and down The Strand, clopping along in their mums’ high heels.

They also loved roller skating together and they would meet in the play area near their homes, where they always aimed for the metal bars.

Sandy said: “We spent hours and hours in the back field, hanging upside down chatting. We spent hours together as children. Our mums used to get together as well.”

They are both the eldest children in their families – Jill has a brother who is ten years younger and Sandy has two siblings, a sister six years younger and brother three years younger.

As a girl, Jill was an excellent dancer and loved her ballet. Sandy also liked dancing and recalls the time they both went for the part of the Sugar Plum Fairy for a school production.

“I was quite adept but Jill was the best, though I always said she only got the part because she was the one who had the tutu,” she laughed.

It has been a running joke all through their lives, with Sandy saying ‘it should have been me’ at every available opportunity.

Among their many stories is the time they rode up to High Salvington on their bikes because there were rumours Frankie Vaughan had moved in.

Jill said: “I don’t think we ever knew if he lived there for sure. But we took pictures of ourselves at the gate to say we’d been there and we had lemonade at the mill. Good memories.”