NOSTALGIA: Looking at a piece of history

Peter Curtis, 69, an electrician, had discovered an old impression of the West Sussex Gazette in a house in Arundel.

“My son and myself were doing some work in an Arundel house lifting up floorboards and they were laid under the carpets,” he said of the find.

“I kept it and thought: ‘One day I must do something with that’.”

Mr Curtis now lives in Yapton and recently brought the impression down from his loft – and into the office.

He said he found it around ten to 15 years ago and it was just one of a strange mix of things he had discovered under the floors during his line of work.

“Over the years it’s amazing what you do find under carpets and lino,” he said.

“Years and years ago I was doing a job rewiring a house and lifted up a floorboard and came across a bowler hat.

“I can’t remember all the details about it but when the house was built, the foreman on the job used to wear a bowler hat.

“Basically he put it under the floor with a note and there were two more notes. When somebody had been doing some more work they added a little note and put the bowler hat back under the floorboards.”

Mr Curtis said after his discovery, he added his own note to the hat.

He said: “You see various things in houses and you think: ‘Blimey, I’ve never seen that before’.”

Do you know exactly what the impression is Mr Curtis found?

If you think you know, write to us at Nostalgia, Unicorn House, Eastgate Square, Chichester PO19 1JN or email [email protected]