Web Page No 2716

 

19^th September 2020

 

1st Picture. BSM Driving School Car book 1954

2nd Picture. Driving School for ladies

3rd Picture. Knocking off time in the yard

4th Picture. Hampshire constabulary helmet badge

 

Driving Schools and Cosham Police Station

The other evening I was driving home at about 8.30 when I came up behind a learner driver and I suddenly thought, when I learnt to drive there were no Driving Schools on the road after dark or even on Sundays. Most Driving School worked office hours Monday - Friday and 9.00 - noon on a Saturday. I know that my driving instructor worked these hours and no more because he lived in Shanklin on the Isle of Wight and came over every day to work for the Standard Triumph agents Righton and Bennett in Milton, so needless to say I learnt to drive on a Triumph Herald. I also bought my first car from Righton and Bennetts that was a blue Standard 10, 9295 BP, with no radio, I had to hang a portable on the knob of the windscreen washer and even this washer was an extra that had been fitted.

My father had a friend, Ron Slack, who owned the Hampshire Driving Academy that was based Cosham High Street down by the Railway station. When Ron got busy he would get my father to go out as an instructor, my father had no training in fact he had never passed a Driving Test himself as his licence dated back to the days when you just went into the Post Office and bought one. His was a general licence and it covered him to drive everything from a powered Auto cycle bicycle to a steam roller and a Centurion tank!!!

Things were very different in those days but waiting in the Driving test, be it in North End or Southsea was just as scary as it is today. Then we would pray that we would get a test which covered the Portsmouth Dockyard knocking off time, either lunch time or tea time because in those days with so many dockies bikes on the road you had a good chance of spending at least a quarter of an hour not moving because of the volume of traffic and as the test only lasted 40 minutes that was a decent chunk of your test that you did not have to worry about.

Thinking about Driving Schools I seem to remember taking a girl out in the mid 1960's, Felicity Green, whose father was an instructor at the Selbourne School of Driving in Fratton.  These were the days when we had to save up to afford the tuition fee of £1.00 and hour. But that was all a long time ago and firms like the Hampshire Driving Academy and the BSM seem to have been over taken by individuals running driving schools from their home addresses.

With the coming of some of the population being let loose on the roads, and for general security, policing the Drayton, Farlington and Cosham area was soon a priority. On the 1st October 1920 the Portsmouth Police Force extended its responsibility to Cosham and took over the Windsor Road Police Station from the Hampshire County Police.

In 1925 number 32 Windsor Road  (the house next to the Police Station) was bought for £670, a previous building in the High Street had been used for a time.

A reference is made in 1945 that the temporary building used as a Police Station at Northern Road, Cosham had become uninhabitable, owing to the partial collapse of the roof and excessive dampness. Arrangements approved for personnel to be housed at the Windsor Road Police Station and for the Main Control to be housed next door.

As the Windsor Road Police Station became more cramped a Cosham subsidiary Police Station off the High Street was officially opened in December 1943.

Now within our lifetime, in March 1952 it was decided that the old Windsor Road Police Station be converted into 2 dwellings for police families. On the 1st July 1952, new Cosham Police Station at the junction of Northern Road and Wayte Street, was opened by the Lord Mayor, Alderman Albert Johnson MP. A retired officer is reported as saying that :- In 1952 there were only ever 2 cars in the Cosham yard - the Superintendent's Morris Minor and an old black Ford Popular which was the CID car!!   The cycle racks were, of course, always full.

And that a police constable of the time had a starting salary of £8-10-0d a week + boot and torch battery allowance and meal breaks lasted only 30 minutes.

And now from 2012 even the front desk of the station is closed to the public.

 

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Peter

 

gsseditor@gmail.com

 

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On this Day 12^th September 1960 -1965

 

 

On 12/09/1960 the number one single was Apache - The Shadows and the number one album was Down Drury Lane to Memory Lane - A Hundred and One Strings. The top rated TV show was No Hiding Place (AR) and the box office smash was Psycho. A pound of today's money was worth £13.68 and Tottenham Hotspur were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. The big news story of the day was MoT test introduced.

 

On 12/09/1961 the number one single was Johnny Remember Me - John Leyton and the number one album was South Pacific Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) 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 12/09/1962 the number one single was I Remember You - Frank Ifield and the number one album was Pot Luck - 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 Everton were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

 

On 12/09/1964 the number one single was You Really Got Me - Kinks and the number one album was A Hard Day's Night - Beatles. 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 Manchester United were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

 

On 12/09/1963 the number one single was She Loves 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 Liverpool were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.The big news story of the day was 35 British tourists die in Pyrennees plane crash.

 

On 12/09/1965 the number one single was (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction - Rolling Stones and the number one album was Help - 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 Liverpool were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.