Memory Lane
Queen Mary in World War II service. The Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth had the ability to carry thousands of troops quickly to the theatres of war. Churchill estimated that the use of such tactics probably shortened the war by 12 to 15 months.
The memorial to the musicians lost on RMS Titanic. The original memorial was placed in the library and was lost when the building was hit in an air bombing raid in WWII. The replacement is located near to the Engineers' Memorial adjacent to a firm of solicitors, Paris Randall and Smith.
Wallace Hartley the band leader was from Colne in Lancashire and many thousands lined the streets as the funeral procession passed by in his home town.
Famously associated with the Titanic is the hymn "Nearer my God to Thee".
The original memorial incorrectly showed the mayor's name as Henry Bower but when the replacement was made in 1990 the opportunity was taken to correct the name to Bowyer.
The Bar Gate South View c1905
Apart from historically recording a view for later generations to appreciate, sometimes the message from the sender also reflects the social history of the day.
"I went on the Pier & in the Park yesterday it was lovely. I'm enjoying myself very much".
S.S Shieldhall now in preservation and used on nostalgic trips on the south coast.
courtesy Hythe Eye flickr.com
Bitterne Park Triangle c1907 pre-dating the Sayers Clock Memorial
placed some smartly dressed children to lead our eye toward the Bitterne Park Hotel and in the background the roof of the church hall of the Church of the Ascension. On the corner was Knowling & Son who acted as the Post Office.
The young lady posting the card tells us that she was enjoying herself very much and last night had travelled on the Floating Bridge and was looking forward to a visit to the Hippodrome and would be returning home to Emsworth by sea.
Royal Pier
Oh we did put up with some incredible colouring on our postcards! Even the cars had artificial lurid colours added by the publisher and we presume they borrowed the sea colour from a South Pacific Island. The domed gatehouse still remains but the derelict pier caught fire during renovations in 1992 when a mixture of paint, industrial gas canisters used for welding, dried wood and rubbish showered nearby properties. About 10 years earlier another fire had destroyed the ballroom. Since 1992, the remains of the burnt out pier with bits of twisted metal supports jars the eye of residents and no doubt cruise ship passengers arriving in the port. We believe that Associated British Ports are in discussion with the council about eventually clearing the wrecked area, a very costly undertaking. We will wait and see.
Opened in 1833 by Princess Victoria it became a popular venue for dancers which over the years changed to jive and discos and in the 1960/70's wrestling matches.
In July 2008 popular restaurant owner Kuti Miah renovated the domed Gate House to open it as a specialist Thai cuisine venue.
Viking Ferries
The state run railway cross Channel ferries where each car was lifted off by the dockers using a cradle and crane woke up one morning in 1964 to see a bright orange red ferry with a bow that opened to allow vehicles to drive off arrive in the port. The Ro-Ro ferries had arrived in Southampton. In what we now call Ocean Village was based the Customs Car Hall and before long more competitors arrived such as General Steam Navigation with their Dragon ferries. Even a very short lived venture bringing cars from Jersey on an ancient Great Western Railway tender Sir Francis Drake tried their hand. British Rail soon decided to withdraw to Weymouth. The ferries began to face great competition as the Townsend Ferries at Dover with their huge capacity and much shorter sea journeys and eventually Townsend took over Thoresen the Viking owners. Then the decision was made to switch the trade to Portsmouth and Dover.
A couple of memories revived by the Viking 1 was that they had a pianist on board to play relaxing music to the cross channel passengers. His claim to fame was that he had been Al Capone's pianist. Hopefully he never played out of tune!
Then the delightful tale of the ferry port manager Major Burns who took his family to a zoo. He parked his red Mini at the side of a pathway and a tame elephant with a party trick of standing on a red drum was being excercised and decided to stand on the red Mini. The zoo management agreed to organise repairs but Mr Burns had to get back to Southampton for the arrival of the late night ferry. The only vehicle they could offer was a van with a giraffe's neck and head "appearing" from the roof of the cab. Hastening down the motorway the engine began to overheat so they pulled into the hard shoulder. A police car arrived and seeing a family in the front of a circus van asked the customary "Is this your vehicle sir?" "Well it was like this officer.........."
Developers made the old car hall into boutique shops, cafes and bars which were quite popular but the extraordinary high rents meant that more and more of the shops were standing vacant. A redundant lightship Calshot Spit made an attraction to visitors at first but commercial viability as a shopping centre had not been examined enough and the site was soon to become empty. Flats and more flats now stand in the area, a brave attempt was made to introduce two cinemas but most activity is generated by luxury yachts berthing on the waterfront.
The Continental Ferry Booking Office was of an interesting design used by the L&SWR in several port locations. CoSS made representations that it should be saved - a famous spy had bought his ticket there as he fled the country and design wise it was the last of its style in England, but with no success.
A youth was given the task of washing down the war memorial commemorating the railway ferry employees lost in WW1. Unwisely he was given a water power washer and began blasting out the lead letters of each of those named on the memorial. A few horrified passing members of the public stopped him from continuing but the damage was done. On the arrival of the developer the war memorial was demolished.
The Floating Bridge
If your computer has a media display a You Tube film of Southampton Floating Bridge will appear. Errors in spelling rests with the originator of the video.
Vintage Guy Arab Southampton 'buses
In the city we have a devoted group of enthusiasts caring for 'buses that were formerly in service with the council owned transport service. The Guy Arabs with their Gardner engines famed for their longlevity and reliablility remained in service until the mid 1950's. Southampton had the largest fleet of Guy Arabs bodywork by Park Royal in the UK,
Guy poster courtesy mikeyashworth.flickr.com
