Web Page 886

First Picture: This was one of Brickwoods’ lesser known products Double Stout






Second Picture: One of the old coal fired Gosport Ferries.

Follow up on last week

Well last weeks piece about Court Lane really got you writing, so much so that I have decided to devote this weeks page entirely to the emails that I have had about last weeks posting.

I love hearing from you, it makes me realise that there are people out there that read what I write and that is great.

Well so far I have had five pieces come through to me and here thay are in no particular order, only as to the time received.

You Write:

Melv B sayes:-

Firstly Melv phoned to say :- There certainly was a school library at Court Lane Secondary School it was a very small room near to the hall on the Cosham end of the corridor.

Griff Writes:

The Griff Emailed me with this:-

For some unknown reason I can remember your scrawly hand writing, like a spider had dropped into an inkwell and crawled across the page. I must remember this detail perhaps from a rollicking you may have got at some time in class. (Very True, I have just managed to tame the spider! Peter)

I was at Solent Rd. when I won, or came second, can't remember now, a handwriting competition when we were about 8 years old. I had only just transferred from Purbrook C of E school that September after moving into Station Rd. Drayton. We had a female teacher who set about re-inventing the wheel by insisting that her class learnt the new Marion Richardson style of writing.......disaster!

At Purbrook we were streets ahead of Solent Rd school in Reading, Writing and Arithmetic and I had been taught to write in a proper English style which was very neat and precise. The upshot of this sudden and dramatic change was that my writing style, even now, is a combination of the two styles that I had been taught at both schools. Still, its legible and still very neat I have to say.


Anida Writes:-

Then Anida joined in with this fascinating piece:-

To turn to libraries, all you say about Cosham Library is absolutely true, Sandra Pullen and I once went twice in one day having read our books in the morning we tried to go back and change them in the afternoon. Couldn't be done, against the rules - not allowed two books to be taken out in one day, so we had to trail home and go back the next day - seems quite barmy now!!

There was a Boots lending library over the top of their shop on the corner of Albert Road, my Mum used to take me there and also a small library next door to a haberdashers shop about half way down on the left looking towards the railway station. I have this memory of the old lady who ran the haberdashers it was a really old fashioned place with lots of drawers and glass cabinets, Mum confirms that she existed which is comforting!!

Incidentally Mum says that washing up was done with a handful of soda before the advent of washing up liquid, that was what my grandmother used and my Mum followed suit. Of course there was steel wool followed by the Brillo pad for the really stubborn baked on bits, since most cooking pans were enamel they were pretty impervious to rough treatment.

Whilst I am writing, I had a conversation with someone who guides with me at the National Trust, she grew up in Paulsgrove and we were trying to remember the name of the grocer's shop on the corner of Knowley Road, Mum can't remember either. It was a typical pre-supermarket shop, you stood in line whilst the assistant took each article off the shelf and put it on the counter ready to go into Mum's string bag. It took absolutely ages and I suppose that is why I remember it, so boring! Latterly there was a greengrocers here next door to Garlands, I can't remember the name of that either. Of course most of the grocery shopping was done from the Co-op where you put your order in and it was delivered by a boy on a bike, you also picked up your milk and bread checks at the same time!

I am sure you remember I told you that I have the chimney pot from the 'Olde Sweet Shoppe' in my garden, I rescued it when the shop was being demolished - so sad, it did reveal it's true history though as when the wrecking ball went through it a huge inglenook fireplace was revealed complete with a very old fireback which disappeared. The sweet shop and the Hampshire Telegraph office next door had at one time been one building and clearly had a great deal of age attached to it. Good to see a decent photograph of the shop though. I will have to dig out some photographs of the buildings in the High Street which I took on the day they were demolishing some of them - I could hardly bear it but thought that a record should be made. When the ball went through the Co-op fish shop next door to the Midland Bank the walls released a massive fishy smell as I believe it had been a fishmongers for a very long time. It was originally built for a John Windebank a builder and carpenter, they were a very old Cosham family, didn't we have a Windebank at school?

Paul Writes:-

The it was Pauls turn to write:-

Yes there was a Library at Court Lane 1960 when I was a first year senior, it was to the left or west of the main hall, a very small room very nearly opposite the main hall way leading to the Head Masters room. There was only one window which looked out onto John Stephens music room and the alley that ran from Court Lane to Magdalen Road.

Thanks for all these memories,

Stay in touch

Peter

DUSTYKEAT@aol.com

News and Views

At the beginning of October legal proceeding were started against Donny & Marie Osmond by the producer of their Las Vegas show, who says he was told the Osmonds would only renew their contract with the Flamingo Hotel if the producer took a 50% pay cut and signed off on his rights. In his suit, he calls them "underhanded, devious, fraudulent and greedy." In a statement, Donny noted that the producer "neither created, financed or owns the show, nor does he engage the talented and dedicated people who produce and perform the show each night."

On this day 7th November 1960-1965

On 07/11/1960 the number one single was It's Now Or Never - Elvis Presley and the number one album was Tottenham Hotspur. The top rated TV show was Bootsie & Snudge (Granada) and the box office smash was Psycho. A pound of today's money was worth £ 13.68.The big news story of the day was Conservative Party Political Broadcast (all channels).


On 07/11/1961 the number one single was Walkin' Back to Happiness - Helen Shapiro and the number one album was Twenty One Today - Cliff Richard. The top rated TV show was The Royal Variety Performance (ATV) and the box office smash was One Hundred and One Dalmations. A pound of today's money was worth £13.25 and Ipswich Town were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.


On 07/11/1962 the number one single was Telstar - The Tornadoes and the number one album was Out of the Shadows - Shadows. 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 Everton were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 07/11/1963 the number one single was You'll Never Walk Alone - Gerry & the Pacemakers and the number one album was Please Please Me - The Beatles. The top rated TV show was The Royal Variety Performance (ATV) and the box office smash was The Great Escape. A pound of today's money was worth £12.64 and Liverpool were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. The big news story of the day was US recognises new regime in Saigon.

On 07/11/1964 the number one single was (There's) Always Something There to Remind Me - Sandy Shaw and the number one album was A Hard Day's Night - Beatles. 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 Manchester United were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 07/11/1965 the number one single was Get Off Of My Cloud - Rolling Stones and the number one album was The Sound of Music Soundtrack. 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 Liverpool were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.