D-Day 80: Granddaughter remembers family member who designed Memorial Stone

The News, Portsmouth

Valerie's grandfather Adrien Jouvin Sharp was Portsmouth's first architect, who was responsible for designing the D-Day memorial stone. He designed other fixtures in the Portsmouth area including Victoria swimming baths and The Air Raid Shelter Tunnels at the base of Portsdown Hill. He passed away in 1955.

Transcript

00:00 So Valerie, tell me a little bit more about your grandad, because he was Horsford's first architect

00:05 and he designed so many parts of Horsford that we know now.

00:09 He certainly did. My memories of him obviously are of quite a young child

00:15 and I remember him as being a very kind and compassionate man, very level, thoughtful.

00:24 He was always quite firm with me but very loving and I believe he taught me right from wrong

00:32 at a very young age. After he retired in 1948 and when I was not at school, we spent a great

00:44 deal of time together and he would take me places like the boats on Canoe Lake, the fun fair and the

00:54 little train that used to run along the seafront in that area. Also we would spend weekends in the

01:03 summer out in the country taking more than one car obviously because of the family being quite large

01:08 then and we loved picnics and walks together. He made a lot of my toys when I was very young because

01:19 it was wartime and you couldn't buy things. He made me a truck on wheels that I could put my

01:26 toys in. He made me a kangaroo that hopped down the slope, a chalkboard, an easel.

01:33 So as a professional Valerie, obviously was an architect and constructed many things.

01:40 Yes.

01:40 But the main thing we're chatting about is the memorial stone which still stands

01:44 today in South Sea and that's obviously going to be the centre of some of the collaborations for

01:50 D-Day. How does that make you feel that something that your grandad made?

01:54 Very, very proud indeed. When we are down in that area in South Sea I always make a point of going

02:02 to see the stone. I know it's very simple but it's symbolic and it does make me proud, yes.

02:11 And you also restored the Guildhall after it was bombed during the war in the 1940s.

02:18 I'm incredibly proud there because of his bravery. He was the one who climbed up into the tower when

02:25 no one else would and he did it three times and he assessed the damage and because of his

02:34 assessment and the result of that the Guildhall was restored and that's why we have it today.

02:41 What are the sorts of things that you think you'll be thinking about?

02:45 I will be thinking of my own memories of D-Day because it must have been one of my very earliest

02:53 memories. Seeing the soldiers, the line up of the lorries and the tanks and motorbikes all down the

03:01 A32 just to see a khaki, that probably will be what I will be thinking about. I do remember at

03:08 at the age of not quite three years old my mother saying to me, "There's something that we have to

03:17 go and look at. There's something I want you to see. It's important." And she took my hand and we

03:22 went out of the front door of the cottage, down the red brick path to the little green wicket gate,

03:28 through the gate, down the path to the next green wicket gate and into the driveway that led down

03:34 to the lodge gates onto the Droxford Road at Rooksbury Park. And it was just a sea of khaki

03:42 everywhere. Soldiers, lorries, motorbikes, tanks, cars and because it made such a marked impression

03:52 on me I have never forgotten it. How old were you at the time when you saw that? Not quite three,

03:59 a month off being three. And you still remember it to this day? Yeah, I do, yeah.

04:04 And what do you think of Portsmouth having the anniversary ceremony in such a grand way?

04:11 I think that's wonderful. I really think that's very important. I mean, we must never forget war,

04:19 never forget wars. They are a terrible thing and it's not that we are glorifying in it,

04:29 but we are remembering the sacrifice that so many made, that we should be free today

04:35 and to ensure that it doesn't ever happen again. That is my opinion.

04:43 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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