Web Page: 840

Top Picture: In the centre of the picture can be seen the conveyor which transported spoil whilst the Paulsgrove Estate was being built.







Bottom Picture: A traffic easing solution tried in Commercial Road in the early 1970’s. Note the Dockyard School on the right and the pub on the corner was the Friary Meux Jolly Roger with its poem on the sign which read ‘This sign hangs high and hinders none, refreshment take and then jog on’.

Cheers

Talking about pubs I tend to think that the older I get the more I fondly remember things from the past. I began to think, the other day, about the popular drinks that we no longer see or hear asked for over the bar in the local, that’s if you have still got a local! I know that I have already talked in the past about the fancy drinks such as Babycham, Pony and Cherry B etc., but now let’s look at those drinks that were usually poured by the barman behind the public bar.

For example when was the last time you heard of someone walk up to a bar and ask for a Brown Split (half bitter and half brown ale), a Boiler Maker (a pint of bitter with a shot of Whisky or Vodka) or a Black Velvet (stout and it should be Champagne or a Sparkling Wine but in our case it was only Cider). Speaking of Cider does anyone remember a Bats Blood (Cider and Blackcurrant Juice) or for those who did not like the bitter taste of commercial Bitter ale, a Lemon Top (bitter with a dash of lemonade in it), and when was the last time that you saw a pint of Mild being served, a Little Bricky or any of the Brickwoods Sunshine Ales? Or even bought a 7 pint can of Pitkin or have gently downed a Merrydown Cider. I bet today’s modern bar staff would have little or no idea what these drinks are and as for Bernard Miles forever telling us that ‘It looks good, it tastes good and by golly it does you good’ they would be completely lost. But not as much as if they ever heard the Stanley Unwin ‘keggy in a blufflade’ advert.

Now looking towards the ladies and their tastes in drinks. For a time, for those who did not want anything alcoholic, a Tomato Juice with salt, pepper and Worcester Sauce was the ‘in’ thing or maybe a St. Clements (orange juice and lemonade). If the lady wanted something with a little punch an Egg Flip or Egg Nog or a Snowball might have been ordered or maybe a rum and black or a whisky Mac. Port and Lemon was often the drink for the older ladies, as was Dubonnet, Sweet Martini or Martini Bianco or maybe even a sweet sherry could have been the drink of choice. I remember that my grandmother occasionally liked a bottled Guinness, a product still on the shelves today but the likes of Milk Stout and Porter are long gone these days I think.

Country and fruit wines were also the ‘in’ drink in the mid 1960’s. Many of these were promoted by the Gales Brewery of Horndean (now gone). Lots of pubs had these wines behind the bar and I can remember the long line of them ranged along the back of the bar in the original Uncle Tom’s Cabin on the Havant Road in Cosham. I know I, along with others, managed to work our way all along the line and complete the full range. We even started again but then the landlord changed and a new one came in and the wines disappeared from their place on the shelf behind the bar, never to return.

I think the area we all lived in and went to school in was not over endowed with pubs and those that were there in are teenage years still appear to be there today. The New Inn ( the place where you would find a little knot of teachers on a Friday Lunchtime), the Sunshine ( Iseem to remember a Jazz Club running out the back of this place for a short while) , the Old Manor and the Shaftsbury are all still in business, as is the Railway (sometime known as the Rocket), the Portsbridge (being the nearest pub to Highbury College it was often frequented by students in term time), The Red Lion, the George and the Wymering Arms. But the likes of Uncle Toms Cabin, the East Cosham Tavern, the Ship and the George and Dragon in Cosham High Street, which had the distinction of being the first pub in Portsmouth to install a condom machine in the gents, the Clacton, the Beacon, the Old House at Home and the Beehive in Paulsgrove have all gone. To say nothing of the Harlequin in Portsdown Park. Before you think that I have forgotten the Churchillian, it took a long time to open and was not serving refreshments until 1957 and is still there. There has only been one pub opened in the area as far as I am aware and that is the First Post in Cosham High Street, but this is a designer pub and not a real boozer with a Bottle & Jug or Off Sales.

In those days the posh wine was Mateus Rose or Leibfraumilch and of course we are back in the days of frothy coffee!!! But that is another story that I explored on the site a long ago.

Ah well back to today,

Keep in touch

Peter

DUSTYKEAT@aol.com
Pj.keat@ntlworld.co.uk

You Write:

From Anon:-



I am an Ex Manor Court boy, I do remember Mr Bennett’s woodworking classes and bringing home the mis-shaped coffee table, there were good times & bad times but it was a good school but it was a shame the name was changed. I too remember the Model Shop in Wayte Street, Cosham where we used to go and buy model aircraft kits and balsa wood. The plastic Airfix kits were always bought from Woolworths. The model shop traded under the name of Haywards and belonged to the parents of a Manor Court girl called Barbara Quinnell who lived in the Tudor style house in Central Road.

News and Views:

"Unchain My Heart," a stage musical of the life and music of Ray Charles, will open on Broadway November 7, with previews beginning October 8. No cast has yet been announced.

On this day 26th May 1960-1965.

On 26/05/1960 the number one single was Cathy's Clown - Everly Brothers and the number one album was South Pacific Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was Wagon Train (ITV) and the box office smash was Psycho. A pound of today's money was worth £13.68 and Burnley were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.


On 26/05/1961 the number one single was You're Driving Me Crazy - The Temperance Seven and the number one album was GI Blues - Elvis Presley. The top rated TV show was Bootsie & Snudge (Granada) and the box office smash was One Hundred and One Dalmations. A pound of today's money was worth £13.25 and Tottenham Hotspur were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 26/05/1962 the number one single was Good Luck Charm - Elvis Presley and the number one album was Blue Hawaii - Elvis Presley. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was Lawrence of Arabia. A pound of today's money was worth £12.89 and Ipswich Town were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. The big news story of the day was Panic on Wall Street.


On 26/05/1963 the number one single was From Me To You - The Beatles and the number one album was Please Please Me - The Beatles. The top rated TV show was Conservative Party Political Broadcast (all channels) and the box office smash was The Great Escape. A pound of today's money was worth £12.64 and Everton were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 26/05/1964 the number one single was Juliet - Four Pennies and the number one album was Rolling Stones - The Rolling Stones. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was Dr Strangelove. A pound of today's money was worth £12.24 and Liverpool were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.


On 26/05/1965 the number one single was Where Are You Now (My Love) - Jackie Trent and the number one album was Freewheelin' Bob Dylan. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was The Sound of Music. A pound of today's money was worth £11.69 and Manchester United were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

Web Page 838

Top Picture: Everybodies father used this!!!









Bottom Picture: A youthful Bob Monkhouse advertises Mars.






Welcome This week we welcome Geoff Ranger to our circle, if anyone wishes to get in touch with Geoff, let me know and I will forward your messages on.


ALSO, don’t miss Peter’s memories in the You Write section.

Back to School

How many of those strange and obscure measurements that we learned at school, or were printed on the back of our exercise books can you remember? We learnt that there were 12 inches to the foot and 3 feet to the yard, OK so far? Good! But how about five yards and one foot six inches to the rod (or pole or perch), 4 rods (or poles or perch) to the chain, 22 yards or 100 links to a chain, 10 chains to the furlong, and 8 furlongs to the mile. I am now getting a little confused how about you? I think that probably the only people who use these unusual measurements these days are jockeys, race horse owners for furlongs, cricketers for chains and I understand that allotment are still rented out in rods!

Near me when I lived in Farlington, as in many other parts of the country, was an area called 40 acres, this being the ancient area of land that one man could work on his own. Now who remembers that one acre is 4,840 square yards, which is equivalent to the area of a rectangle one furlong in length and one chain in breadth. I certainly cannot!

Down at the local other measures were used gills, pints, quarts and gallons. Of course gallons have always been somewhat confusing, as Americans visiting this country for the first time quickly discover, but the confusion isn’t confined to the difference between an Imperial gallon of petrol and an American gallon of gasoline, oh no! The volume of a gallon of wine is 231 cubic inches, whereas that of a gallon of beer is 282. Now in Scotland the chopin was half a standard pint and, at 51.7 cubic inches, was close to the English quart at 57.75 cubic inches. A mutchkin was half a chopin. You didn't know about mutchkins and chopins did you? Neither did I! Well not to worry two generations on from now no British schoolchildren will know about gills and quarts either. They will be lost in the mists of antiquity and we will not even go into the sizes of Firkins (9gallons), Kilderkin (18gallons) and barrel (36 gallon), Hogshead (1.5 barrels), a puncheon (2 barrels), a Butt (3barrels) or even a Yard of Ale.

Now to other things. Down at the fishmongers our mothers bought a pint, or half pint of shrimps, why not a pound or half pound? Or a pair of kippers, why not a couple? In the grocers eggs were boxed in long hundreds even though there were only 360 in the box, A Bakers dozen was always 13 and if you bought a box of tomatoes it was a chip. I remember that certain grocery stores, Pinks being one of them, sold loose sherry which meant that you had to take along an old sherry or wine bottle and have it topped up, but the loose liquid was sold by the pint and not by the bottle or half bottle.

Off now to the sweet shop where we lined up to buy a quarter of humbugs, or if we were a little short of pocket money just two ounces. Whatever quantity you wanted they were weighed out in little Avery scales which only weight up to one pound, the sweets were then slid into a little paper bag before we could get out hands on them. Of course money was different then and we could buy candied shrimps at four for a penny or even one for a farthing! Ah! this is back in the days of shillings, florins, half crowns and guineas, EMI even produced a line of LP’s under the title of the Golden Guinea range at just £1 1s. 0d each.

Nautically speaking I have never understood that particular terminology, just what is a fathom or a league, a cable or a nautical mile.

And we thought that going metric was a problem!!!
Take Care and keep in touch

Peter

DUSTYKEAT@aol.com
Pj.keat@ntlworld.com


You Write:

Peter writes:-

I notice that one of your recent memory pictures was Uncle Toms cabin on Havant Road at Cosham. I remember that stretch of Road before that. It was basically a long Terrace of buildings from the top of Park Lane round to the top of Cosham High Street. At the top of Park Lane, was an Off Licence called Smeeds, ( they had several branches throughout Portsmouth ). At the time I am talking about, late 50's early 60's I believe the Manager was a Mr Pugsly. They also had a shop in the middle of Cosham High Street which was run by a Mr Vacary. I went to Court Lane with his daughter Jacky Vacary.

Coming along Havant Road from Park Lane in this long terrace, was the old Uncle Toms Cabin and right next door, The East Cosham Tavern. Their fronts were a 4ft pavement width from the road. Just beyond that, was an Esso Garage called Lettons. They served Petrol on the frontage from the old fashioned tall pumps and had workshops behind. My father Mr Barlow, who owned Bakers of Cosham, ( the chemist ) always got his petrol there for his 1936 Morris Eight and then his 1949 Vauxhall Wyvern and then his 1958 Ford Zodiac Executive. Wherever he was, he would never use any other Petrol than Esso.

The terrace continued on towards the High Street with houses and I always remember one of them had a bedridden lady in the front room where the window was always wide open so that she could see the people and traffic passing by. As you came into the High Street was Dodd & Reads Newsagents where I had my Paper Round. Seven days a week Morning and evening I got 14 shillings.

On the other side of the road where there are now Flats, there was a raised area which was the back of Widley Street. Along that raised area, was a Cobblers shop called Kelseys. On the North East top corner of the High Street was a Scrap Yard called Coopers. I remember them well because they had to big Conker Trees in their Yard. One Sunday afternoon when all was quiet, me and a couple of school friends climbed over their wall with a sack to collect conkers. Unfortunately we got caught and they accused us of nicking scrap even though the sack had conkers in it. They called the police and we were marched down to the new Cosham Police Station. Looking back on it, I am sure that both they and the Police knew we weren't nicking scrap but they certainly gave us a rough time and a clip round the ear.

I hope this gives a bit more insight into how it was at the top of the High Street back in the 50s & early 60s ( The Good Old Days )


News and Views:

At The Hard on 26th March a statue to commemorate the Portsea Mudlarks was unveiled. It was commissioned through the work of the Portsea Action Group, worked tirelessly for nine years to raise the money for a permanent reminder of the cherished childhood memories.The names of some of the mudlarkers now have a place in history as their names have been etched onto plaques around the plinth. I ex Mudlarker said "I first saw my wife when I was a mudlarker. She used to come over from the Isle of Wight with her mum and threw money down. Years later she recognised me and that's when we got together." The ceremony was opened by MP for Portsmouth South, Mike Hancock, who said, "As a kid, I was one of those who messed about in the mud for money and got a good hiding for it when I got home."

More News and Views:

An auction of Buddy Holly memorabilia, including a recording of songs made weeks before his death, was held on April 9th in Dallas. Buddy's widow, Maria Elena, was there to talk about both the items and Buddy himself.


On this day 19th May 1960-1965

On 19/05/1960 the number one single was Cathy's Clown - Everly Brothers and the number one album was South Pacific Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was Royal Variety Performance (ATV) and the box office smash was Psycho. A pound of today's money was worth £13.68 and Burnley were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 19/05/1961 the number one single was On the Rebound - Floyd Cramer and the number one album was GI Blues - Elvis Presley. The top rated TV show was Bootsie & Snudge (Granada) and the box office smash was One Hundred and One Dalmations. A pound of today's money was worth £13.25 and Tottenham Hotspur were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 19/05/1962 the number one single was Nut Rocker - B Bumble & the Stingers and the number one album was Blue Hawaii - Elvis Presley. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was Lawrence of Arabia. A pound of today's money was worth £12.89 and Ipswich Town were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. The big news story of the day was Marilyn Monroe sings Happy Birthday for JFK.

On 19/05/1963 the number one single was From Me To You - The Beatles and the number one album was Please Please Me - The Beatles. The top rated TV show was Liberal Party Political Broadcast (all channels) and the box office smash was The Great Escape. A pound of today's money was worth £12.64 and Everton were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 19/05/1964 the number one single was Don't Throw Your Love Away - Searchers and the number one album was Rolling Stones - The Rolling Stones. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was Dr Strangelove. A pound of today's money was worth £12.24 and Liverpool were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.The big news story of the day was Microphones found in Moscow's US Embassy.

On 19/05/1965 the number one single was King of the Road - Roger Miller and the number one album was Beatles For Sale - The Beatles. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was The Sound of Music. A pound of today's money was worth £11.69 and Manchester United were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. The big news story of the day was Queen visits West Germany

Web Page 836

Top Picture:

An icon of the 60’s a Davy Crocket Hat, see News and Views Section.

Bottom Picture:

Pictures from the School Reunion, was it really over eight years ago? Who do you recognise?

Robin Hall and Jimmie Macgregor

Robin Hall and Jimmy MacGregor are remembered as one of Scotland’s most popular folk duos. They first teamed up in January 1960 after meeting in Vienna. But most of us will remember them as providing, along with Cy Grant, the musical section on the BBC magazine programme ‘Tonight’ introduced by Cliff Michelmore and they subsequently appeared most nights for the next 14 years. Tonight was watched by roughly seven million viewers. Macdonald Hastings, Fyfe Robertson, Slim Hewitt and Alan Whicker roamed the world for Tonight. Whilst in the studio, Cliff Michelmore, Derek Hart and Geoffrey Johnson-Smith along with reporters Kenneth Allsop, Christopher Brasher, Julian Pettifer, Brian Redhead and Polly Elwes became household names.
Robin Hall even hit the political headlines when the programme's producers asked him to remove his CND badge from his guitar before he went on air. His refusal was a stand on a point of political principle, the Scottish roots of his music sprang as much from the gritty parodies of the anti-Polaris protesters as from the Celtic twilight. It is significant that one of his last gigs reunited with his old partner was a reunion concert in the early Nineties for all those anti-bomb protesters whose songs had ensured that the Scottish revival was rooted in concerns of the present.

The release on the Decca label of the single Football Crazy in 1960 received a great deal of airplay and became one of their most popular songs. In the early sixties Robin and Jimmie regularly (though not exclusively) performed as part of the Galliards, a quartet made up of them, Shirley Bland and Leon Rosselson, appearing regularly on radio, and are particularly remembered for the series Hullabaloo. They went on to tour the world, recorded more than 20 albums, and appeared on countless television programs. Another series that brought them great acclaim and recognition was The White Heather Club, which they hosted for five years. Their distinctive harmonies and enormous repertoire of songs, many of which they introduced during this period, have gone on to become folk standards.

Their television appearances made them a big national attraction, and they headlined concerts where the support act was a then little-known Merseyside group, the Beatles. They even topped the bill at the Cavern, in Liverpool.
They began recording almost immediately after they started singing together. After an initial series of EPs for the tiny Collector label, they made their first LP for Decca in 1961. As its title, Scottish Choice, implied, it was a selection of songs from north of the border. Then followed a series of 21 other albums, concluded in 1978 by Songs for Scotland, for Decca's Celtic subsidiary, the Beltona label. Robin Hall's decision to break up the partnership in 1979 came as something of a shock to his partner. When Jimmy Macgregor speaks of it today he is still hurt by its suddenness, though he believes it was their daunting workload of concerts prompted Robin Hall to leave so suddenly. They came together again in 1994 for a final appearance, for a 20-minute spot in a Christmas concert at Glasgow's Royal Concert Hall, and, Jimmy Macgregor recalls, "It was as if we'd never been away."
Robin Hall was born in Edinburgh in 1937, studied at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Dramatic Art and tried acting for a while. He suffered from Polio as a child, though he never allowed it to intrude on his public performances. Though he did some radio work after the break-up of the duo, he was off the scene for many years. His second marriage ended, and he lived alone in Queen Margaret Drive, Glasgow. This is where the police found his body on 18 November 1998. He appeared to have been dead for several days.

Jimmie Macgregor has had a long and varied broadcasting career latterly as an award winning radio and television presenter. When he arrived in London with sixty pounds and an old Abbott-Victor guitar, he soon found himself in demand in the few folk clubs which existed at that time, and with jazz and skiffle clubs opening up, it was possible to make a modest living doing the one thing that he wanted to do - make music. Specialist radio programmes began to appear: Guitar Club, Stringalong, Roundabout, Easy Beat, Skiffle Club, Saturday Club etc. Jimmie performed regularly in all of these, solo or with a variety of partners and groups, and latterly with Robin Hall. As his long term partnership with Robin Hall drew to a close, Jimmie Macgregor moved on as an award winning radio presenter. His daily Macgregor's Gathering for BBC Scotland ran for more than ten years and further enhanced his reputation as one of Scotland's top personalities Jimmie has had a lifelong interest in wildlife, is a dedicated conservationist, and periodically escaped from the studio to make radio and television programmes on long distance walks in Scotland, Ireland, Canada and the Arctic. Most of these trips resulted in books. He now presents them as illustrated talks around the country, and his energy and enthusiasm for his various interests remains undimmed.

Take Care and keep in touch

Peter

DUSTYKEAT@aol.com
Pj.keat@ntlworld.com

You Write:

Val would like to know what happened to Michael Hutchins, can anyone help?

News and Views:

Fess Parker, best known for his TV roles of Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone, died on March 18 at his home in Santa Ynez Valley, California from natural causes. He was 85 and had been married to the same woman for 50 years. He was born in 1924 in Ft. Worth, Texas and served in the Marines in World War II (though at six foot, six inches, he was too tall to achieve his ambition of being a pilot). After the war, he graduated from the University of Texas before moving to California to become an actor. He was under contract to Warner Brothers but it was at the Disney studios that he made his mark. The song, "Ballad Of Davy Crockett," which came originally from a December 1954 episode of "Disneyland," became a no. 5 hit the following Spring for Fess. Disney took the TV episode along with its two sequels and created the movie, "Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier." He also charted with the song "Wringle Wrangle" from his Disney film, "Westward Ho, The Wagons!" Other movies included "Old Yeller" and "The Great Locomotive Chase." In 1964, he starred in NBC-TV's "Daniel Boone," which showed for six seasons. He later entered real estate development in California, including the Fess Parker Doubletree Resort in Santa Barbara and a winery nearby.

On this day 12th May 1960-1965

On 12/05/1960 the number one single was Cathy's Clown - Everly Brothers and the number one album was South Pacific Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was Wagon Train (ITV) and the box office smash was Psycho. A pound of today's money was worth £13.68 and Burnley were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 12/05/1961 the number one single was Blue Moon - The Marcels and the number one album was GI Blues - Elvis Presley. The top rated TV show was No Hiding Place (AR) and the box office smash was One Hundred and One Dalmations. A pound of today's money was worth £13.25 and Tottenham Hotspur were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 12/05/1962 the number one single was Wonderful Land - The Shadows and the number one album was Blue Hawaii - Elvis Presley. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was Lawrence of Arabia. A pound of today's money was worth £12.89 and Ipswich Town were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. The big news story of the day was Film star Emilio Estevez born

On 12/05/1963 the number one single was From Me To You - The Beatles and the number one album was Please Please Me - The Beatles. The top rated TV show was Labour Party Political Broadcast (all channels) and the box office smash was The Great Escape. A pound of today's money was worth £12.64 and Everton were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 12/05/1964 the number one single was Don't Throw Your Love Away - Searchers and the number one album was Rolling Stones - The Rolling Stones. The top rated TV show was Conservative Party Political Broadcast (all channels) and the box office smash was Dr Strangelove. A pound of today's money was worth £12.24 and Liverpool were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 12/05/1964 the number one single was Don't Throw Your Love Away - Searchers and the number one album was Rolling Stones - The Rolling Stones. The top rated TV show was Conservative Party Political Broadcast (all channels) and the box office smash was Dr Strangelove. A pound of today's money was worth £12.24 and Liverpool were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 12/05/1965 the number one single was Ticket to Ride - The Beatles and the number one album was Beatles For Sale - The Beatles. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was The Sound of Music. A pound of today's money was worth £11.69 and Manchester United were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

Web Page 834

Top Picture: A typical Ponds Lipstick Advert from the mid 1950’s. I wonder do Ponds still make lipstick and if not when did they stop making it?











Bottom Picture: A modern kitchen in the late 1950’s!


Firstly we welcome Maureen Todd into our midst, if anyone wishes to get in touch with her, let me know and I will pass on your messages. At one time Maureen was the youngest Landlady in Portsmouth she was just 18 when she took over the Sunshine Inn in Farlington.

Junior School

I am sure you will all remember going to school with, what seemed like, every piece of clothing named either by hand in pen using Indian Ink or with purpose made Cash’s name tapes which had been sewn on. I always thought this was a thing introduced by our schools for easy identification of our coats and hats etc but on further research I have discovered that it has a rather macabre history dating back to the dangerous days of the Second World War. From a war time notice that I read very recently, comes this advice to all parents to name every piece of clothing that each child wears to school. The reason for this was to aid identification and the rather ghoulish reason being that if a school received a direct or close hit and the pupils suffered horrendous injuries and death, the body parts found could be identified by reference to the clothing labels. It is amazing how many wartime measures continued after the war and we did not realise it and this was just one of them.

But moving on to far more cheerful things. In those days when we were in our Junior Schools we all had named shoe bags to carry our plimsolls in and if we were very lucky we had plimsolls with the elasticised fronts so we did not have to tie the laces. Definitely no sports trainers for us! They were not even invented when we were young. No track suits, shell suits or sports socks, only normal shorts and vests. We had no special sports clothing, only what we had at home and what was called our PE kit.

The sports equipment at school was also very basic, rubber gym mats, bean bags, skipping ropes, rubber quoits, long wooden benches, netballs, rounders bats and airflow balls. Things were so much simpler then!!! If we did not make it into a school sports team it did not matter we dealt with the disappointment we did not have to have a consolation prize for not making it.

I seem to remember that when I was at Solent Road Junior School we were all expected to keep the tops of our desks clean and tidy and to polish them. To this end it was very lucky that the Betterwear door to door salesman would give away tiny tins of furniture polish as free samples and we took these to school, along with a duster to polish the desk tops. From conversations with modern parents recently I understand that pupils do not even have their own desks at school any more, so that is something else that has gone into history and we won’t even mention making up the dried ink powder being the ink monitor and filling the ink wells!!!!

Junior school was a breeding ground for strange habits, my mother always sent me off to school in the morning with two or three biscuits wrapped in greaseproof paper to eat during morning playtime. But when I went back after lunch I was not given another parcel of biscuits for afternoon break, maybe a substantial lunch was deemed enough? I suspect we all remember visits from the School Nurse and the fear and curiosity that generated in most of us plus the terror generated by standing in a queue waiting to receive an inoculation.

But there were always the happier things, class parties and friends birthday parties, school concerts and visits, playing with your mates in the playground and what seems like the twenty three a side football matches which raged right across the playground. At Solent Road Junior School the playground was tarmac, we had no grass or wooded area so if we wanted to play on grass we had to walk along to the Recreation Ground in Farlington Avenue near the Portsmouth Waterworks property. As we got older and more independent journeys further afield became possible and then the whole of Portsdown Hill and beyond, the Farlington Marshes, Hilsea Moat and the Railway Triangle became our play grounds.

Now one thing that has always puzzled me is who decided on the seasons for games and toys especially with us boys? All of a sudden racing Dinky cars was out and something else, maybe Yo Yo’s were in, who decided when the fashion changed? It just seemed to happen. I know things like conkers are obvious but the timing of a lot of our other seasonal playthings is still a mystery to me even after all these years.

Take Care and keep in touch

Peter

DUSTYKEAT@aol.com
Pj.keat@ntlworld.com


You Write:

This from an old Manorcourtonian:-

Sitting at my PC at home in Chesterfield I could not believe that the Teachers that Peter Keat was writing about were still in my mind, as an Ex Manor Court lad I can recall these teachers. some were ?? Monsters and other I loved to be taught by, but then those were where I believe happy days




News and Views:

There is an action group called Hilsea Lido Pool for the People who are trying desperately to re furbish and re-open the lido to provide an all year round premier venue for the people of Portsmouth. They want to make the Lido so much more than just swimming. They were formed when the Lido faced the decision by the City Council to close the Lido for good. Good luck to them I say you can read all about it on their web site WWW.hilsea-lido.org.uk after all many of us learnt to swim there, sunbathed there and met our girlfriends and boyfriends in the grounds there. Long may it remain.


On this day 5th May 1960-1965

On 05/05/1960 the number one single was Cathy's Clown - Everly Brothers and the number one album was South Pacific Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was Wagon Train (ITV) and the box office smash was Psycho. A pound of today's money was worth £13.68 and Burnley were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 05/05/1961 the number one single was Blue Moon - The Marcels and the number one album was GI Blues - Elvis Presley. The top rated TV show was No Hiding Place (AR) and the box office smash was One Hundred and One Dalmations. A pound of today's money was worth £13.25 and Tottenham Hotspur were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. The big news story of the day was US minimum wage rises to $1.15.


On 05/05/1962 the number one single was Wonderful Land - The Shadows and the number one album was Blue Hawaii - Elvis Presley. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was Lawrence of Arabia. A pound of today's money was worth £12.89 and Ipswich Town were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions

On 05/05/1963 the number one single was From Me To You - The Beatles and the number one album was Summer Holiday - Cliff Richard & the Shadows. The top rated TV show was Conservative Party Political Broadcast (all channels) and the box office smash was The Great Escape. A pound of today's money was worth £12.64 and Everton were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 05/05/1964 the number one single was A World Without Love - Peter & Gordon and the number one album was Rolling Stones - The Rolling Stones. The top rated TV show was Conservative Party Political Broadcast (all channels) and the box office smash was Dr Strangelove. A pound of today's money was worth £12.24 and Liverpool were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. The big news story of the day was First office fax machine.

On 05/05/1965 the number one single was Ticket to Ride - The Beatles and the number one album was Beatles For Sale - The Beatles. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was The Sound of Music. A pound of today's money was worth £11.69 and Manchester United were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.