Ernest's labour of love is a matter of life and death

He knows who has been born in Bexhill, who's passed away, and who's celebrating a special wedding anniversary.

Ernest Wilson has been carrying out a labour of love on behalf of the town he was born and grew up in.

He has been indexing the events which contribute to the life of Bexhill - a task which sprang out of his interest in family history.

Each Friday he scans the Observer's pages for births, deaths and important dates, and enters his findings into his database.

Ernest, of Bodle Crescent, has discovered what a huge job it is to record these important moments of the town's history which have proved invaluable to other people researching family history and background.

He has created an index from 1990 to the present day, recording about 800 events per year - the last volume covering 2004 to this year has taken three years to complete.

Unfortunately ill-health is causing Ernest to draw back, and he wants to find someone else to carry on this valuable work. Whoever it is will need their own computer, a keen interest in reading the Observer and a passion for Bexhill's history to match his own.

He began this work in 1992; having retired from his job as a carpet-fitter he was pleased to fully occupy his mind.

Ernest said: "When I started, I wanted to find out things about my own family. But you need to wade through so many issues of the Observer that I thought why doesn't somebody index all this material? Then I thought - why not me?"

"I originally went back through issues to find out about my grandfather in 1916. He was called up for the army during the war and there was a story in the paper for three weeks about his court case - he worked for Hodgkinson's in Western Road, which was a household store which sold furniture but also did plumbing and so on. My grandfather, who was nearly 40, worked there as a plumber during the war, and Hodgkinson's didn't want to let him go because plumbing was a very rare trade at that particular time. He was deaf as well, and had already served in the army. So there was a whole spate of reports in the paper, and that is how I started getting into the Bexhill Observer. There is such a wealth of information in there, it is unbelievable."

The interest in his own family history started when his father Stanley died in 1987.

"He was the last of 13 brothers and sisters, and suddenly I found I knew nothing about the family and I was being asked questions by relatives living in Canada - he had two sisters out there."

Ernest discovered that his grandfather and great-uncle had come to Bexhill to help build the Crowhurst railway line. Stanley was born in North Road, which is round the corner from where Ernest lives, and his mother Violet Smith was born in Salisbury Road.

Apart from indexing births and deaths, he has also researched memorials in Bexhill, such as benches with plaques in Egerton Park or along the seafront. He thinks if a visitor came looking for a certain memorial they would have no idea where to start, so now it's all down in black-and-white and easily accessible at Bexhill Library with all his other work.

Now 64 he is ready to pass on the reins.

"The only requirements are; you buy the Bexhill Observer each week, you have a computer and printer of even modest spec, and you can spare about 20 minutes of your time at home per issue. It's really quite easy."

Anyone interested can contact the Observer on 01424 730555, or by letter which will be passed on.