The project's History Day was held at the Worthing Library and 52 people went along to share their stories, photographs and experiences of the town.

Over the next few weeks, historian Chris Hare will visit each resident to conduct an in-depth interview with them.

He will then compile the results and produce a book, which will be released next year.

Colourful characters

Chris, who has been researching and writing about Worthing's history for more than 20 years, said: "We certainly had some colourful characters come along on the day.

"One man had a very clear, photographic memory and told me in great detail about coming to Worthing as a German Jewish refugee in 1939, having escaped the country just before World War Two broke out.

"Amazingly, all his family survived and they were reunited here in 1946.

"Another lady had photographs of the Teville Gate area from the 1950s, before anything was built there, which I had never seen before."

Guild Care

The Time for History project is being supported by Worthing charity Guild Care, which this year celebrates its 75th anniversary.

It has been funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

It is hoped that as well as the book, there will be an exhibition featuring the accounts and photographs supplied by residents.

Their stories will also be put on a special section of the Guild Care website.

Volunteers needed

In order to help him write the book, Chris is looking for volunteers to help transcribe the taped interviews.

Chris said: "It was a great success.

"If we had more people come along it would have been too difficult to cope with. We've got people with memories that are unique.

"The great thing about oral history is there are some certain types of memory that are unique to that person and give you a new look at the town."

Anyone who can spare a couple of hours a week, and has done transcribing before, should call Chris, on 07794 600639.

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