Web Page  No 2164

1^st June 2015

Top Picture: Hayling Level Crossing

Middle picture: Hayling Toll Bridge

 Bottom Picture: Hayling Sand Dunes

A Day on the Beach

Living, as I did for over twenty years on the Havant Road in Drayton, it became a standing joke in the late 1950’s and early 60’s that there was never any trouble crossing the road on a nice summer weekend or Bank Holiday because the traffic was always at a standstill because of the numbers trying to make their way to the beaches on Hayling Island.

There were two very big problems getting onto Hayling Island. The first one was the gated level crossing at Langstone where, in the peak periods there were at least four packed passenger trains an hour each way necessitating the gates being closed. That meant eight train movements an hour especially on summer Saturdays and if Mick O’Shay, the crossing keeper, only closed the gates for four minutes each time it resulted in the road traffic being held up for over a half an hour each hour. Mind you in his spare time Mr O’Shay ran a taxi firm and sometimes did not get back in time to open the gates for the train and so there was a train queue as well! We did not have a car at this time so it was bus to Havant and onto the train to Hayling but that’s another story).

However having negotiated the level crossing within a half a mile was another major hold up and this was the Toll Bridge. The bridge was owned by the Southern Railway and they retained ownership right up until the 1970’s when it was sold to the Council so that a new bridge could be built. The original bridge was of timber construction with a tarmacadam roadway surface and was over 70 years old. Tolls were charged at varying rates for every vehicle and this caused even more delays, but the biggest delays came at the end of the life of the bridge when a strict weight restriction was imposed which had the effect that a laden bus was well over the permitted weight and so on arriving at the bridge the bus had to stop and pay the toll, the passengers disembarked and walked over the bridge, the bus would then drive over the bridge empty and then pick up its passengers on the other side. More delays. We did, on occasion, take the bus and the walk over the bridge was always exciting for a small boy.

The traffic hold ups were terrible and sometimes, on hot days, the queue would reach way past our house and on into Drayton. These were the days before the MOT and so there were all kinds of cars on the road, some safe others held together with rope and string and there was always a call for a watering can full of water to top up boiling radiators.

As I got older and became mobile on my 21” Royal Enfield Bermuda bicycle we would cycle over to Hayling and take a packed lunch and spend the day in the sand dunes, which have now been flattened, a danger to health and safety they said.

I remember one day I set off with a group with my lunch and towel in my saddle bag along with a small Pifco portable radio and set off for Hayling. We had a great day and just before we left we decided to have just one more dip in the sea, when I came out I grabbed my towel and looked for my underpants, ( I had worn my bathers under my trousers on the way over) and discovered I had left them at home. After a quick think I decided I would be able to ride home without underwear and no one would know. What a mistake that was! The journey was so painful, remember we had only just come out of the sea and even with vigorous drying the sea salt still clung to my nether regions. How I made it home I do not know and when I underdressed I was red raw and very sore. Still Mum, an ex-nurse, came to the rescue with a large jar of Nivea Cream.

Morale to the story must be: always make sure you have always got your knickers with you!!!

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Peter

DUSTYKEAT@aol.com

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I write, I do an illustrated talk with movie film of the Hayling Island Railway Line if anyone wants a speaker some time!

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My new book DRAYTON REVISITED should be going to press in the next couple of weeks. I have already started on a sequel, DRAYTON MEMORIES.

Peter 

On this day 1^st June 1960-1965

On 01/06/1960 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 01/06/1961 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 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 01/06/1962 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 (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 01/06/1963 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 (Granada) 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. The big news story of the day was Profumo resigns.

On 01/06/1964 the number one single was You're My World - Cilla Black 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 01/06/1965 the number one single was Long Live Love - Sandie Shaw 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 Manchester United were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

Web Page  No 2162

31^st May 2015

Woolies Commercial Road. Portsmouth

After the war rebuilding of the Commercial Road branch was one of the priorities of the F W Woolworth company. There is not a lot written about the rebuilding but I have found several photographs in the Woolworths Virtual Museum. So as a change from the normal web pages this one is mainly photographic.

The first picture shows an original drawing for the proposed front of the building. This must have been drawn sometime in the late 1940’s as the new shop opened in stages from 1950 to 1953. During this time the company started to experiment with different display techniques and Portsmouth was the flagship store for these experiments hence all the photographs.

In place of the single height personal service island counter, new "gondolas" were installed with tiered shelving, allowing several layers of shopping in the same bay. This allowed the stores to stock a wider range and to introduce bulkier products. The best of the new lines were squeezed into the stores that had not been modernised by bolting extension bars onto the existing personal service counters. The same basic approach is still employed by retailers across the world today.The second picture shows that the work had really started and the foundations were being put in. No much in the way of mechanical aids, mainly manual labour.

Looking at the outside of the building from the Charlotte Street end we can see from the following two pictures the modern looking bow end to the restaurant on thefirst floor, so beloved by my mother. 

Now here are a few shots of the restaurant, bacon and egg for 1/9d seems a good price, no wonder there were queues to get in. The final picture in this series was taken in 1965 in the kitchens.

As I said the store opened bit by bit and the next picture shows the frontage in 1950 but obviously the first floor was yet to be finished. The next picture shows it in the 1960’s.

I spoke of sales areas earlier, the next series of pictures shows the store in 1953 and 1965, what did your mum buy in here?

The final picture shows the store just before closure, a treasured part of any High Street was now gone.

I have another eight pictures to go on and I will put them on over the next few weeks.

Thanks to the Woolworths Virtual Museum for the pictures etc.

 

Stay in touch

Peter

DUSTYKEAT@aol.com

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On this Day 31 May 1960-1965

On 31/05/1960 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 31/05/1961 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 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 31/05/1962 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.

On 31/05/1963 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 Coronation Street (Granada) 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 31/05/1963 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 Coronation Street (Granada) 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 31/05/1965 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 (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  No 2158

17th May 2015

Top Picture: Cinema Ice Cream Tray

 Middle picture: Cossack Hair Spray

Bottom Picture: Rubber Exercise Mat.

Something in the Air

I am sure that I have spoken about this before but after getting a whiff of a perfume the other day it sent my mind reeling back to my teenage years and a certain young lady. The sense of smell is certainly a wonderful thing and it really helps send the memory banks into overdrive. So let’s look back again with the help of our noses.

The perfume I mention is an old one Tweed which I did not realise was still production. But scent or perfume always makes me think of my Grandmother. Everything she wore seemed to smell of either Lavender or Lilly’s of the Valley and her dressing table always held a bottle of Ashes of Roses and 4711 Eau de Cologne.

Looking at men’s preparations in the 1960’s us lads had a big choice:- Hi Karate, Imperial Leather, Old Spice or similar and for the hair Brylcreme, Ship Shape, Trugel and Cossack Hair Spray for men, plus many, many more. 

Looking back even further I cannot go into some Charity Shops today without getting that old, stale clothes smell that I associate with Scout Troop Rummage or Jumble Sales and I am back there watching all the Portsmouth dealers digging through the piles of old clothes. Whilst talking about Scouting the smell of tarred rope also takes me back to the days of neckerchiefs, woggles and short trousers!!!

Drinks also had a distinctive smell, now who can remember that delicious smell of roasting coffee beans that used to percolate from the premises of Brewer and Company in Marmion Road. What a shame that the coffee never tasted as good as the smell. Being close to the large Coop Bakery at the bottom of Station Road was always a treat at baking time as the smell of fresh bread, buns, cakes and warm sugar filled the air. Another more pungent smell used to originate from the Brickwoods Brewery in Queens Street, the warm smothering smell of boiling hops used to saturate the area on brewing day.

Thinking about school, especially my Junior School at Solent Road, during the winter the heating was solid fuel boilers and today I cannot smell burning coke or anthracite without thinking of cold winter schooldays. When we were at that school always on a Friday afternoon one teacher, Miss Waters, always made us polish the tops of our desks. For this we would manage to get tiny tins of sample Mansion Polish from the Kleeneze man so now if I visit a stately home or somewhere similar who have polished the woodwork with something like Mansion Polish I am taken straight back to Friday afternoons at school and the dreaded Miss Waters. One other smell that occasionally gets an airing, and it is usually in a shop like Halfords, is rubber. Do you remember those rubber exercise mats we used for PE at school? They all had a terrible smell and believe me the cheaper range of rubber car mats really do smell exactly the same as those school mats. The wood and graphite smell of pencil sharpeners and the rubber and canvas smell of plimsolls, not trainers in those days!

On reaching home at lunchtime on a Monday the whole house would smell of warm soapflakes and boiling water as mother did her washing in a galvanised boiler on the kitchen stove. Another lasting smell memory is the very distinctive smell of the Airwick Air Freshener when the wick was pulled up and filled the room with a pseudo pine fragrance.

Then, come the appropriate time of year, mother would bottle or pickle various items that Dad had grown in the garden and then there would be the smell of hot vinegar and pickling spice which hung around the house for days.

If on a Saturday morning we went to the Cinema the warm smell of a couple of hundred human bodies crammed into an auditorium is something that could never be artificially manufactured, even if you wanted to, you could not even escape it if you wandered down the front for a choc ice of a drink on a stick.

But the best smell of all was the smell of Sunday dinner quietly roasting away in the oven making our mouths water in anticipation of a traditional Sunday Roast.

I’m getting hungry now so must go and have a quick snack!!!

Keep in touch

Peter

DUSTYKEAT@aol.com

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All quiet this week

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Celebrating 30 tremendous years of the UK’s original and premier sixties show, Solid Silver 60s brings you its most sensational line-up yet.

Headlining, and back in the UK for the first time since 1999, is Billy J Kramer, performing alongside the original voice of the Searchers, Mike Pender. Chris Farlowe a Solid Silver firm favourite is also back. Also  this anniversary bill is UK soul pioneer PP Arnold - one of the original members of The Ikettes. All of these legends are backed by New Amen Corner. Plus, the bill’s not complete without very special guests, the wildly successful Merseybeats - back to round off this 30th birthday bash.

On this day 17th May 1960-1965

On 17/05/1960 the number one single was Cathys Clown by the 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 17/05/1961 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 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 17/05/1962 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 17/05/1963 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 17/05/1964 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 17/05/1965 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.

Web Page  No 2156

10th May 2015

Top Picture: 1950’s straw shopping bag

Middle Picture: Wall paper covered school books

Bottom Picture: Cut throat razor and strop

I was sent this recently and thought, this would make a good page.

Checking out at the supermarket, the young cashier suggested to the 
much older woman, that she should bring her own grocery bags with her because  plastic bags weren't good for the environment.

The woman apologised and she then explained by saying , "We didn't have this 'green thing' back in my earlier days." The young cashier responded, "That's our problem today your generation did not care enough to save our environment for the future generations."

Was she was right? Our generation didn't have the 'green thing' in its 
day. Back then, we returned milk bottles, lemonade bottles and beer 
bottles to the shop. The shop sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilised and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over and over again. So to me they really were recycled.

But we didn't have the "green thing" back in our day. Grocery shops bagged our groceries in brown paper bags, that we re-used for numerous things, most memorable besides household bags for rubbish, was the use of brown paper bags as book covers for our schoolbooks, or maybe even an old piece of wallpaper. This was to ensure that public property (the books provided for our use by the school), was not defaced by our scribblings or had their covers torn. Then we were able to personalise our books on the brown paper bags. But too bad we didn't do the "green thing" back then.

We walked up stairs, because we didn't have a lift in every supermarket, shop and office building. We walked to the local shop and didn't climb into a 300 horsepower machine every time we had to go half  a mile. But she was right. We didn't have the "green thing" in our day.

Back then, we washed the baby's Terry Towel nappies because we didn't have the throwaway kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy- gobbling machine burning up 3 kilowatts – wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days. Kids had hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. But that young lady is right; we didn't have the "green thing" back in our day.

Back then, we had one radio or TV in the house - not a TV in every room and the TV had a small screen the size of a big handkerchief  (remember them?), not a screen the size of Scotland In the kitchen. We blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn petrol just to cut the lawn. We pushed the mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity.

But she's right; we didn't have the "green thing" back then. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull.

But we didn't have the "green thing" back then.

Back then, people took the bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their Mums into a 24-hour taxi service in the family's £50,000 ‘People Carrier’ which cost the same as a whole house did before the "green thing." We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances and we didn't need a computerised gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 23,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest Pub! But isn't it sad that the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the "green thing" back then?

Please pass this on to another selfish old person who needs a lesson in conservation from a smarty pants young person. We don't like being old in the first place, so it doesn't take much to chock us off...especially from a tattooed, multiple pierced lassie who can't work out the change without the cash register telling them how much it is! 

That’s progress

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Peter

DUSTYKEAT@aol.com

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On this day 10^th May 1960-1965

On 08/05/1960 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 08/05/1961 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 08/05/1962 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 week was that London trolley buses were decommissioned.

On 08/05/1963 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 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 08/05/1964 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. The big news story of the week was Comedian Max Miller dies.

On 08/05/1965 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.