Web Page 1152
2^nd June 2013

Top Picture: The George in the 1930’s

Bottom Picture: The building of Paulsgrove estate late 1947

Things Best Forgotten

After chatting to a couple of contemporaries recently two or three incidents or escapades that we got up to as mid to late teenagers were remembered, laughed over and after this period of time maybe best forgotten. But I will let them surface just one more time.

One of our favourite locals in the early 1960’s was The George on top of the hill. One evening, after spending a couple of hours testing the ale we set off to walk home as usual. The route we always took was across the slopes of Portsdown Hill, through an alley which took us into the Cosham end of Seaview Road and from thence we would make our separate ways homeward, in my case to Farlington.

This particular evening we were walking along Seaview Road when part way along we came across a neatly stacked pile of new bricks on the grass verge, obviously they were destined to become a garden wall or maybe house extension, there were a lot of them!

Well the sight of these bricks was far too tempting for us, I think there were about six of us, I cannot remember who had the original idea, but I know that we spent the next hour or so quietly moving these bricks, one by one, from the verger, into the road in the form of a dry brick wall. When we had finished about one o’clock in the morning there was this perfectly formed brick wall about three feet high right across the road. Having completed the wall we made our way to our respective homes. We somehow expected to see the headline in the following days Evening News “vandal’s built brick wall across road in the middle of the night” but that never happened although I really did hope the milkman was wide awake a five in the morning as he came along Seaview Road on his early morning deliveries!

Later in the day I cycled up to Seaview Road to take a look but the bricks were once again stacked neatly on the grass verge. I bet there was some swearing and cursing when the builders arrived in the morning and found their bricks moved!

There is a rider to this story. The builders had a name board on the pile of bricks, RJ Winnicott and he was my great uncle so fifty years later I have to say to my late Uncle Bob, sorry uncle.

Something else from that time that the three of us remembered involved courting couples. On several occasions after other testing sessions in The George and when we were on our way back across the hill we would look for a parked car, in those days you could drive a car right down the hill to the quiet spots behind the hillocks and bushes, and then to look for a car with steamed up windows. At that time we found it great fun to quietly creep up to the car and then all of a sudden, and all together, bang on the roof and bonnet of the car. I think that we must have stopped many unwanted pregnancies, or had been the cause of several hernias in our teenage years! All we knew was that a man with his trousers round his ankles could not get out of a car very quickly or run very fast for that matter! 

The George was the venue for my stag night, which brings me to one final memory. This was 1967 when the council were redeveloping and redesigning the A3 and building new roads around the pub. This involved carving great holes, rather like mini chalk pits just alongside the road passing the front door of The George. Wel,l when it came to closing time what was left of my stag group decided to walk home the old way (I will add here that I had not been into The George for some time as I had spent the last year working away in Worcester). We left the pub crossed the road and I, not realising that there were road works, walked straight off the edge of the earthworks and slid down a 20 foot hole successfully ruining my trousers, shirt and jacket and really upsetting my mother when I walked in covered in chalk looking like a snowman!

Still I like to think that we have all grown up since those days but we still have a laugh remembering them.

Stay in Touch

Peter

DUSTYKEAT@aol.com

Pj.keat@ntlworld.co.uk

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Nothing this week

News and Views:

Heard this week of the death of a friend Bill Pertwee, the Warden in Dad's Army. We were not close but until his last illness we rang each other regularly. We became friends when he came along 15 years ago as a speaker to a Railway Society I run. RIP Bill.

Also:-

The TV wrestler 'they all loved to hate' Mick McManus, died on 22nd May in Kent at the age of 92.

On this day 2nd June 1960-1965

On 02/06/1960 the number one single was Cathy's Clown - The Everly Brothers and the number one album was South Pacific. 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 02/06/1961 the number one single was Surrender - Elvis Presley 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 101 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 02/06/1962 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 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 02/06/1963 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 Coronation Street 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 04/06/1965 the number one single was Long Live Love- Sandie Shaw  and the number one album was Bringing It All Back Home - Bob Dylan. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street 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.