Worthing Lifeboat Town

Born and bred in Worthing, West Sussex, England on 9 February 1951, Rob Blann was educated at the town's Technical High School.

In 1970 he started a garden services business which has grown into the well-established comprehensive resource that it is today.

Having descended from an old Lifeboat family it was not surprising that in 1988 Rob endeavoured to obtain the old Worthing Lifeboat House to re-establish a Lifeboat Showpiece Museum there, dedicated to the history of the town's Lifeboatmen. (see Daily Telegraph 14/9/88 page 2)

Also in 1988 Rob Blann, a campaigning conservationist, began confronting the authorities to save Worthing's Dome Cinema from certain demolition, in a crusade which he led for 8 years. (see The Independent 10/6/89, The Times 4/3/96 page 3 and Daily Telegraph 11/6/96)

The lengthy struggle eventually proved successful, the Dome was saved, and later it won a National Lottery Grant for its restoration and regeneration.

www.WorthingDomeCinema.com

Four books have been written by Rob, including one for the European Library. They are: A Town's Pride, Edwardian Worthing, Vintage Worthing, and Worthing in old Picture Postcards.

In 1991 Rob started writing and compiling a nostalgia page on a regular weekly basis for the West Sussex Gazette. Initially entitled Remember When and later called Flashback Forum the features proved immensely popular with readers contributing a wealth of otherwise forgotten, fascinating facets of local and social history.

With the advent of the internet, the year 2000 saw Rob launch his website 'Your Memories', collecting and featuring people's memories of the last century from all parts of Britain.

After 6 years, the successful website was completely transformed and vastly expanded into PastTimesProject.co.uk where members interact with all aspects of the past, including: Lifestory Library, Find Past Friends, Heritage Visits, Gene Junction, Nostalgia Knowledge, Seeking Lost Persons, and Seeking Companions.

Since the inception of monthly magazine The Worthing Journal at the beginning of 2011, Rob produces the Down Memory Lane section.