Web Page 3091 29th July 2023 First Picture: Farlington Naval Estate

Second Picture: Farlington Race Course

Third Picture: The Marshes

Forth Picture: The George

Sitting in the sunshine in my garden in Gosport the other day I thought back to the days when I grew up in the Drayton/Farlington area, the days when the sun always shone and the biggest problem that we had was what to spend our pocket money on in Mr Shaws’ corner tuck shop in Highlands Road and Solent Road. Our play area when we were kids was enormous stretching from Portscreek to way over the hill to Widley, from Forty Acres tM Cosham High Street also taking in the Highbury estate. Farlington Marshes was always a favourite area for us, especially the bit of derelict land, where the Farlington Racecourse used to be before the war, between the Eastern Road and the Cosham Railway Triangle. Here we could explore the area which,, by that time was covered by bracken and brambles. Here we would make dens, float home made rafts and of course go fishing after having dug up the lugworms from the mud to use as bait. I only ever remember catching crabs, never ever a fish. The other side of the Eastern Road, which is now the nature conservation area, was also a favourite. Here we could discover abandoned military buildings and various other items of wartime use. Here we could dig up the underlying cordite and blow large holes in the mud. Highly dangerous but very enjoyable. Another source of enjoyment was the number of chalk pits which could be explored. Our favourites were two, the one at the top of Gillman Lane, this had some very strong vegetation through which we could climb across the chalk face of the pit and the pit at the top of Drayton Lane. This last one was rather overgrown and was a great favourite with most of us providing we did not upset the elderly gentleman who lived in a green painted corrugated iron hut in the neighbouring pit on the other side of the Lane. The hill itself was an adventure playground. In the late 1950’s and early 60’s the land was left unattended and so come the summer the whole of the hill was covered in long grass. This was to provide a fun area from the days of riding your bike through the long grass hoping not to hit a rabbit hole right through to our courting days. (You could not beat the long grass!!) Further along the hill we would explore around the forts and surrounding areas and up into Deadmans Wood, which today is a shadow of its former self as it has been manicured to fit in with the golf course off Crookhorn Lane on which it now stands. All this seemed to start to come to an end in the early 1960’s when the council granted permission for the Royal Naval estate to be built at the top of Farlington Avenue with the road pushed through to the hilltop road. This was followed by building permission being given for houses and industrial units to be built on a lot of the vacant plots of land on which we played. Such is progress. But still I have the memories of happy hours spent on the hill and the marshes, around Flint House and the chalk pits and of an evening buying a bag of chips from Mr Francis chip shop in Drayton and eating them on the way home having added the obligatory salt and vinegar and maybe the server would have also have included just a few scraps to help the snack on its way. I must be getting old. Stay in touch Peter gsseditor@gmail.com Griff Writes:- I can't remember if the pet shop in the Drayton parade of shops had a name or not but there is a good chance it was probably called "Drayton Pet Shop". I think it was next door to the Co-op? My memory has faded on the positioning of some of these Drayton shops. Anyway it's a good time to resurrect Tiggy the Tortoise who has just spent his two weeks Summer holiday with us whilst my Son and family went on holiday. Tiggy is still in fine fettle and in the best of health. Fed on the finest wafer thin sliced carrots and cucumber and dandelion leaves and the flower heads. To turn him into a turbo tortoise he gets his sugar rush from a fresh strawberry and then does he speed around the garden lawn. Contrary to popular belief tortoises can move fairly quickly when they want to and they are thoroughly warmed up by the Sun. I have had Tigs. since I was 10 years old, bought from the Drayton pet shop for 2/6d. He is a Moroccan tortoise and would have been around 3-5 years old when he came to the UK in or around 1958'ish. He does hibernate in the Winter from November to March in his own purpose built tortoise des. res. detached house built by my Son. My two Granddaughter's look after him at my Son's house. Just think he will outlive all of us as a healthy tortoise can easily live to 150 years old.

Regards to all Melvyn (Griff) Griffiths.

Web Page 3089 21st July 2023 First Picture: Start-Rite Poster

Second Picture: Childrens sandals

Third Picture: X Ray machine

Forth Picture: Norwich Factory

Start-rite is a brand of children's shoes that purportedly is Britain's oldest and one of the first shoe manufacturers in the country. The company was established in 1792 in Norwich by James Smith. His grandson, James Southall, gave the firm its current name; and it rose in prominence during the 20th century thanks in part to an iconic poster, reading Children's shoes have far to go, which was displayed on the London Underground for 20 years from 1947. Controversy exists around the origins of the image in this poster. It has been attributed to artists Andy Wood, William Grimmond, Joe Wilkinson of Stanley Studios, Susan Pearce, Nancy Gardner and to the company's own advertising agent. In 1955 Start-rite was granted a royal warrant by the late Queen Elizabeth II to supply footwear for the young Prince Charles, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward. The company was granted a second royal warrant in 1989 by the Prince of Wales to supply children's footwear for Prince William and Prince Harry. This royal warrant was withdrawn in 2003 on production being moved from the UK. In 2016 Prince George was pictured wearing Start-rite shoes in an official portrait taken to commemorate the 90th birthday of the Queen. In 2003 the company ceased production in the UK, outsourcing its operations to India and Portugal The cost cutting move came amid a £600,000 annual loss, which the company reversed the following year to turn a £1.5 million profit. Sales further increased by 20% to 2007. The company focuses on correctly fitting shoes to children's feet, and was the first to introduce variable width fittings for children's shoes. In 1943 the company carried out the first ever nationwide survey of children’s feet, bringing together experts not just in shoemaking, but in medicine and education and the findings transformed the way children’s shoes are designed and fitted. Startrite stated that they believed small things could make a big difference when it comes to enabling children to move with comfort and confidence, and they took the decision to create their shoes in multi-width fittings and in half as well as whole sizes. As proud experts in children’s foot health they committed to quality of care and supporting children’s healthy foot development and this remains a core part of their product development.. The iconic advertising image of the twins, called by Startrite as their twin adventurers have been at the heart of the Start-Rite brand for over 70 years. The two adventurers represent the journey of a child’s development – with Start-Rite here to support them every step of the way. The twins are the ultimate visualisation of their pioneering spirit. Start-Rite proudly say is a business built by, and for, families. I remember that my mother would only ever buy me Start-Rite shoes and sandals when I was a kid. She always bought them from Smith’s shoe shop on the Havant Road in Drayton. The shop was run by a short Welshman, Mr Smith, despite having one of the enormous foot x-ray machine it looked really incongruous set in the rather tatty and dusty shoe shop. Stay in touch Peter gsseditor@gmail.com

Web Page 3087 14 th July 2023 First Picture: As Sir Lancelot Spratt

Second Picture: Poster

Third Picture: With Diana Dors

Forth Picture: With Margaret Rutherford

James Robertson Justice was born on 15th June 1907 and died 2nd July 1975. He is best remembered for portraying pompous authority figures in comedies including the films in the Doctor series. He also co-starred with Gregory Peck in several adventure movies, notably The Guns of Navarone. Born in south-east London to a Scottish father, he became prominent in Scottish public life, helping to launch Scottish Television (STV) and serving as Rector of the University of Edinburgh (1957-60 and 1963-66). His father Aberdeen-born mining engineer James Norval Justice and Edith (née Burgess), James Robertson Justice was born James Norval Harald Justice in Lee, Lewisham . Educated at St Hugh's School, Bickley, Kent and Marlborough College in Wiltshire, he studied science at University College London, but left after a year and became a geology student at the University of Bonn, where he again left after a year. He spoke many languages including Spanish, French, Greek, Danish, Russian, German, Italian, Dutch and Gaelic. He returned to the UK in 1927, and became a journalist with Reuters alongside Ian Fleming. After a year, he emigrated to Canada, where he worked as an insurance salesman, taught English at a boys' school, became a lumberjack and mined for gold. He came back to Britain penniless, working his passage on a Dutch freighter washing dishes in the ship's galley to pay his fare. On his return to Britain, he served as secretary of the British Ice Hockey Association in the early 1930s and managed the national team at the 1932 European Championships in Berlin to a seventh-place finish. He combined his administrative duties in 1931–32 with a season as goalie with the London Lions. He entered driving a Wolseley Hornet Special in the JCC Thousand Mile Race at Brooklands on 3 and 4 May 1932. The car was unplaced. The following year a "J. Justice (J.A.P. Special)" competed in the Brighton Speed Trials: "Justice's machine 'Tallulah' noisily expired before the end of the course, and was pushed back to the start by way of the arcade under the terrace." He left Britain again to become a policeman for the League of Nations in the Territory of the Saar Basin (a region of Germany occupied and governed by France and Germany under a League of Nations Treaty of Versailles). After the Nazis came to power, he fought in the Spanish Civil War on the Republican side. It was here that he first grew his signature bushy beard, which he retained throughout his career. On returning to Britain, he joined the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, but after sustaining a wound in 1943 he was honourably discharged from the service with a pension. He married nurse Dillys Hayden in Chelsea in 1941, and they had a son, named James. On his return from the war, he reinvented himself with stronger Scottish roots, dispensing with his two middle names and acquiring the new middle name Robertson out of his habit of wearing Robertson tartan. Feeling strongly about his Scottish ancestry. He unsuccessfully contested the North Angus and Mearns constituency for the Labour Party in the 1950 general election. With his earnings from the film Doctor in the House (1954), he purchased a cottage in the Scottish Highlands village of Spinningdale. In 1966 he appeared as a narrator in five episodes of the BBC children's television series Jackanory, telling stories and legends from Scotland. He pursued acting after joining the Players' Theatre in London. Under the chairmanship of Leonard Sachs, who latterly was the chairman of The Good Old Days, the club would stage Victorian music hall nights. With his domineering personality, bulky physique (he played rugby for Beckenham RFC First XV alongside Johnnie Cradock who would become the partner of 1950s TV chef Fanny. With his rich, booming voice, he soon established as a major supporting actor in British comedy films Best remembered as the demanding surgeon Sir Lancelot Spratt in the "Doctor" series of film. On 31st August 1957, he helped launch the TV station Scottish Television (STV). From 1957 to 1960, and again from 1963 to 1966, he was Rector of the University of Edinburgh. After a series of affairs and the accidental drowning of his four-year-old son in 1949 near his watermill home in Whitchurch, he separated from his wife; she eventually divorced him in 1968. He met actress Irene von Meyendorff in 1960 and they remained together, eventually marrying in 1975 three days before he died. Stay in touch Peter gsseditor@gmail.com Mary writes I really enjoyed reading today`s blog as it brought back so many happy memories. I remember visiting Dennis the chemists with my mother, who always said what a wonderful couple Mr& Mrs Dennis were. Many yrs later I worked in the pharmacy of Boots the Chemists in Cosham high St & met their daughter in law. I was taken to that shoe shop from an early age for my Startrite shoes. I often bless my parents as I still have nice straight toes! Another favourite place was the ice cream parlour. My mother would buy fresh fish from Slapes. I still enjoy fish today, although it`s quite expensive these days. Fish was considered a cheap meal in those days. There was the woolshop run by Miss Moffat. Apparently aged 3 I told my father we`d been in Miss Mocktit`s shop! He managed to suppress a giggle my mother told me. The fried fish & chip was a favourite special treat & my father had worked for them. Nappers also springs to mind,

Web Page 3085 7th July 2023 First Picture: Lights Ironmongery

Second Picture: The Broadway with Slapes

Third Picture: Broadway Garage

Forth Picture: Havant Road

Richard Newman’s Drayton Memories Part Two Shopping in Drayton Shopping was usually in Drayton with my mother. Once Dysart Road had been extended this provided a shorter route to the shops and the west side of Lower Drayton Lane contained Privett’s lorry yard behind a long brick wall, an old barn and a lane to Drayton farmhouse. At the top of Lower Drayton Lane, adjacent to the Wellington Terrace “cut off” a squirrel that lived in the large trees On a Monday afternoon we would visit Pinks the grocers (230-232 Havant Road) who had stores all over the Portsmouth and surrounding areas. It was very much a typical grocery with a general counter to the left and a bacon/cheese counter to the right with displays in the middle of the shop. At the back was the managers office (Mr Marshall subsequently succeeded by Mr Southern); this was built of a dark timber with plenty of windows to view the shop and there was a clock in the middle of the frontage. The order would be placed on a Monday – inscribed appropriately on a pink carbon form – with delivery of the goods in a cardboard box in their green van on a Thursday. While my mother debated whether she needed jam, marmalade, Golden Syrup or Quix washing up liquid I would clamber onto the round backed chair and wait patiently knowing that in due course we would catch a bus Bedhampton where I could play on the iron rocking horse in the Recreation Ground. Edwards the greengrocers (at 157) also offered a similar delivery service and Vivienne, the owner’s daughter would call at the house on her bicycle to collect the order each Tuesday. Another cardboard box containing fruit and veg would be delivered on Thursday. Meat was purchased from Street’s but when this became a motorcycle supplier under the ownership of Doreen, Mr Street’s wife, after her husbands death my mother crossed over the road and shopped at Cooper’s. As required she would visit Stewart the chemist (at 246) where there was a distinctive blue enamelled weighing machine. Campions (214), Smith and Vospers (228) or Westons, later Greens (256) for bread and cakes; the Post Office which was divided into a stationary shop run by Mrs Brown the postmistress; Slapes for wet fish and Flemings (234) the newsagent usually to pay for the weeks delivered newspapers. My father would buy his pipe tobacco at Jarmans (244) the sweat shop and tobacconist run by Mr and Mrs Keys, While if I needed a haircut I would be take to the hairdressers run by Jack England in a room behind the sweet shop. Occasional visits would be made to Nappers or Lights (129/131) for ironmongery or garden requirements. Mr Smiths shoe shop (260) if I required a new pair of Start-Rite shoes or sandals (Mr Smith was a Welshman and he and he and his wife kept an elderly cat that would be curled up on the shoe boxes). Wynns toy shop in the wartime Nissan hut formerly used as the British Restaurant and in the same building Mr Jones the watchmaker set up business. There was a shop to the front of Herberts Nursery (served by Miss Herbert) for seeds or plants. We also visited Pocklington’s Nursery a few doors down to purchase cucumbers or tomatoes and would walk down the driveway beyond the house to a wooden shed near the greenhouses where the produce was grown. An old school type bell was hung at the door of the shed and when this was rung the late Florrie Smith (whose father was Cosham’s postman when there would only have been one) would emerge from a greenhouse to deal with the order. Florrie had been in the Land Army during the war and could be seen riding her trusty bicycle fitted with a wooden box over the rear wheel. She had lived her whole life in Cosham and was insistent that it was pronounced Cos-ham and not Cosh-am as had been corrupted over the years. An occasional visit to the doctor would mean a trip to No 183 Havant Road where Dr Ian Partington had his surgery within his house, although he later moved to North End. Dry cleaning requirements were taken to Chapmans laundry (153) the branch being run by a lady called Barbara whilst Denis the chemist a few doors away was sometimes patronised. I always enjoyed bus travel and the Havant Road was served by twelve daytime services per hour, this would be enhanced by with a further more Farlington - Dockyard Services. The Corporation had in 1947 obtained powers to run trolley buses along the Havant Road but this never came to fruition. Drayton also had its own bus route (N022). This was introduced in 1958 between Upper Drayton (Troon Crescent) and Cosham soon after Lonsdale Road had been metalled and used wartime Bedford OB 26 seater buses which had been reseated with horsehair cushions Drayton was referred to as ‘the village’ by many people and was a wonderful thriving community you could always meet someone to stop and chat to. Griff Writes I see in your latest Manor Court blog the article written by Richard Newman that Flint House has been mentioned again. I have researched in years past for any photo's of Flint House without any success but I believe you had one Peter which you published years ago. If only we had mobile phones in the 1950's fitted with camera's the photo's we could have taken. Flint House and the grounds were my playground back then and I can confirm that one Charlie Harris and myself both young 10 year old residents of Station Rd. entered into Flint House by gently removing the corrugated iron that was blocking the window off as a security measure. We went all around the floors of Flint House and I have to say it was in very good condition inside from what I remember. The one thing I do clearly remember though was the line of coat hooks with childrens names under the hooks and that would confirm what I discovered many years later that Flint House was used as a temporary children's home during WW2. Charlie and I went inside Flint House many times and we were always very careful to cover our tracks by ensuring that the corrugated iron security panel was put back and looking as if nobody had touched it. Regards to All Melvyn (Griff) Griffiths. Stay in touch Peter gsseditor@gmail.com