| Peoples Hampshire Memories | ||
| These pages are contributions from people remembering their times in Hampshire | ||
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Childhood days in Totton and Testwood It was in August 1945 at St Elmo's nursing home in Junction Road, with the help of a Nurse Diver, that I was brought into the world. Sadly this is no longer there being taken over by modern housing and shops.
Nowadays the Rumbridge Street and High Street side of Totton has become run-down with empty properties, takeaways and charity shops replacing the old family businesses which were here for decades. John Walters was a well known local man who started up as a carpet shop in Station Road and became very popular. The family business then moved to Rumbridge Street and was there for many years. But the business has now moved to Junction Road. There are still some of the old names in Rumbridge Street though, and today I went into one shop which has many childhood memories of being the best toy shop in the area, Goldsmiths, which today is a newsagents, next door was Colletts and Matthews, the latter is still there. On the opposite side of the road was the White House fish and chip shop which was popular with people returning home from the Eling Fair and Industries Exhibition which was held annually in Eling recreation ground, and next door was Goddards cycle shop which was changed to a Honda motorcycle franchise by the late Martin Goddard and his wife, one of his mechanics took over the business, and later this became part of a company in Shirley. Eling Fair and Industries Exhibition was the biggest event held every July in Eling Recreation Ground. Here there was a funfair and also large marquees which held various exhibitions. The annual Horticultural Show, Industries of the local area were also displayed, the biggest usually the car sales of Streets Garage, a gymkhana took place every day with the final being held on the Saturday. Motorcycle display teams and other attractions were held here all week. The Totton and Eling carnival would start off at Testwood Crescent (later moved to the Calmore Industrial Estate) and would travel the full length of the Salisbury Road through Junction Road where nine times out of ten the Level Crossing would close and cut the procession in half!! And on to Eling Recreation ground for the prize giving. At the end of the week a large firework display would take place to announce the end of the festivities. During Carnival week the local shops would participate and a competition called Spot the Deliberate Mistake would be held, this entailed the shops having a 'foreign' object on display in their windows. I can always remember Andrews drapery shop having a tin of baked beans in their window and Goddards Cycle shop having a set of baby clothes!! One of the favourite places especially on walking back from the Eling Fair was the White House fish and chip shop! The Co-operative Society had a grocery shop and butchers, Woolworth was a few yards away with the International Stores (which used to be in the High Street) next door where I did an apprenticeship during the 1960s, for the princely wage of £5 a week and later increased to £5 10s 6d. Opposite was a branch of the National Westminster bank which is now a religious hall and next door was Coombes the greengrocers. Other shops included, The Coop, Wallers, Goldsmiths, Matthews, Leggs Greengrocers, and the old cinema opposite in Windsor Road. Junction Road has changed dramatically, with Gullivers Off Licence pulled down to make way for the Department of Health and Social Security. Opposite was a little chemist shop called Eyre's . The level crossing has always been the cause of bottlenecks in the town and many a good time was spent waiting for the Bournemouth Belle to pass through on its journey to Bournemouth and back to London at around 5pm, the great locomotive giving clouds of steam to cover all the children on the footbridge and its brown and cream Pullman carriages gleaming in the sunlight. One of the local lads was Alfie King who used to live in the last house before the level crossing, a loveable rogue who used to get blamed for everything!! Blundells Flower Shop, Chalmers wool shop, St Mary's Hall, the Savoy cinema, Ted Copps barbers shop with Annettes ladies hairdressers next door and Gamages sweetshop all in Junction Road all recall happy memories. There was also a butchers shop run by the Dunning family, a son of which is the International Show Jumper Lionel Dunning who took part in many of the gymkhanas held at Eling fair, on the corner of Junction Road and Commercial Road was the Elephant and Castle public house. The Savoy Cinema is now an industrial garment factory but when I was a child the weekly treat was a seat in the 2/6d backrow seats!!! Saturday mornings saw the children's cinema (2d each) with old favourites like the Roy Rogers club, Hopalong Cassidy and the Three Stooges just to name a few. The manager Ted Clark used to put a Christmas tree up in the foyer every year and the kids used to get a cracker and a sweet on the nearest Saturday morning to Christmas. Quite often I used to come out of the Saturday morning 'flics' to find about two to three feet of water all over the village, caused by the spring tides at the Causeway. And to see the landlord of the Elephant and Castle mopping out! Later when I was older I went out with his daughter Linda, my first love! And he used to get us complimentary tickets to the theatres in Southampton to see all our pop favourites, such as Cliff Richard and The Shadows, Gerry and the Pacemakers, Roy Orbison, Cilla Black and many many more. Between the cinema and the barbers was Hamilton Terrace a line of three storey houses that have been demolished to make a goods entrance for a large superstore. Another favourite shop was the Double 'U' Library in Testwood Lane now an electrical shop and a doctors surgery, here you could indulge in all your childhood fantasies, not only did they lend books but had a great toy department that seemed to stretch for miles!! Just past the Double U was the old fire station with its siren on a tower outside the wooden building that housed the town fire tender. The firemen were all voluntary and when the siren went you could see them speeding to the fire station on bikes or in cars from their places of work. At 8pm on a Monday evening the siren was tested and you could hear it for miles around. Nowadays a new police station (now manned part time only), Ambulance and Fire station and a health centre have all been built adjoining the magistrates court directly opposite the old fire station. The Police Station used to be a large house in Commercial Road on the left as you enter Totton, almost next to Strides cycle and second-hand furniture shop. Before the shopping precinct was built and on the opposite side of Commercial Road where the charity shop is now was J.D. Law a television and radio shop, next door was Roy Joyners paint and wallpaper shop , another little shop then the Cross Keys public house, and the last shop was Bert Morris's car shop and car sales. The World Stores sat in the middle of the 'Y' junction of Salisbury Road and Ringwood Road with Barters ironmongers next door in Salisbury Road. Then came Water Lane with its toy shop and post office. On the corner of Testwood lane and just before Beaumont Road were another collection of shops that lined both sides of Commercial Road. The bank was on the corner of Testwood Lane, with Mallinsons the Chemist (another branch was in South Parade) and Card's Fish and Chip and Fresh fish shop, followed by Holgates Electrical shop with its old petrol pumps outside and a couple more smaller shops. Opposite this was The Royal Oak which boasted that it was the smallest pub in the largest village in England, next door was the Hampshire Car Bodys depot which made fire engines for all over the world. Next came Gordons Ironmongers and Andrews which was a drapers shop. A small shop and then there was a sweet shop run by a Mrs Withers. At the Southampton end of Commercial road and the first shop in Totton was Strides cycle and second hand emporium, followed by Meachers Transport (they also had a depot in Water Lane) , T. Burts garage and then the entry to the railway station (Station Road). Couple of run down buildings housed Deans the newsagent and a greengrocers then a row of terraced houses. In Station Road there was the Welwyn Cafe, and John Walters carpets along with a model and wood shop on the end. Later Ted Copp a hairdresser who used to work in George the barbers shop in Junction Road moved to Station Road Opposite here was the South Parade
set behind a large grass verge with the
Conservative Club and the Empire Hall being a favourite place for the
teenagers of the 50s and 60s who used to have many a good Saturday night
dance to bands which would later make the top ten, one of these was
Screaming Lord Sutch (late of a political party) who would set his hair
on fire and sing "Fire! Fire! Fire!" Even though I lived at Testwood on the Salisbury Road, Totton was the place you could buy practically anything without having to go to the nearby town of Southampton. And one small hardware store in Water Lane. Holts, was a favourite place as no matter how small an object, whether it was one nail or piece of chain it was never too much trouble for Mr Holt to go out to the back of the shop and come back with the item. And he only charged for that one particular thing though they were often in packets of between 10 or 100! Service like this sadly has gradually disappeared. Brockenford Lane led from Rumbridge Street to the railway line where there is a footbridge that took you to a path joining the Ringwood Road, next to the old Territorial Army Drill Hall, and the Army Cadet Hut, (had a great time in the Army Cadets!). The top end of Brockenford followed the line of the River Rum from Rumbridge and was a favourite spot for us boys with our fishing nets catching the Minnows or Sticklebacks, or just for paddling in, many of us had 'dens' built along there! Their were two more favourite bathing places in Totton, one of these was called the Salmon Pool (Salmon Leap) where a large house used to be sited and during the end of the war military vehicles were parked. The other was Nutsey which is at Testwood. Here during the summer months families used to take picnics to sit beside the river across the field between the 'first and second' bridge. To access this there was a footpath that ran down beside the gravel pit that was owned by the Bull Brothers. Swimming was also carried out from the bridge on the causeway at Redbridge with youngsters diving off the top of the bridge into the river below. The local beach was at Goatee, near Eling Quay but today it is not advisable to swim there due to the pollution!! The main schools in the are were Eling School in School Road, Lydlynch Infants in Lydlynch Road and Ringwood Road Primary (later renamed Abbotswood Primary) in Ringwood Road, and the secondry modern Testwood school in Testwood Lane. There was also Totton Grammar School at the bottom of Water Lane and Calmore Road. I can well remember my days at Lydlynch school where a Miss Little was the tyrannical headmistress, and often she could be seen chasing the boys out of the air-raid shelters in the school grounds. My first teacher was a Mrs. Wheeler and the school caretaker was a tall thin chap called Mr. Appleton. Ringwood Road schools headmaster was a Mr "Pop" Singleton and some of the teachers were, Mrs Crook, Mrs Clarke, Miss Molyneux, Mr Benton, Mr Durrant, I think Mr Benton was the most popular teacher there during my 'confinement'!! Mrs Clarke was a good teacher despite being strict and unpopular with most of the schoolchildren, and our favourite times were the last period of the afternoon when she would read from Enid Blytons Famous Five books, and on a Friday we had fresh ice cream from a fridge that was in her classroom!! She even organised trips for us, and one memorable one was to Cheddar Caves and Bath. Another trip was to London Zoo with Osgoods Coaches (based on Salisbury Road) and the coach broke down in London which only gave us about an hour in the zoo itself!! Sadly I did not attend Testwood School as my parents put me into a private school, the only time I went there was for my 11 Plus exam (which I failed!) and for the youth clubs in the evening. During the 11 Plus we were served dinner in the school dining room, and this caused much excitement among the children as it was far better than that at Ringwood Road school! Properly cooked cabbage instead of the "leather which was good for soling the shoes", real boiled potatoes instead of the sticky mash, and Semolina pudding which I thoroughly enjoyed, and even had several other helpings from the boys who would not eat it!! The headmaster here was "Sid" Bowler and the PE master was the Rev Norman Bence, other teachers were Mr Stern and Mr Sterling. The Rev Bence also took a keen interest in the Youth Club which was held in the evenings and he was also a keen trampolinist and used to coach the children in this activity. Other happy memories were from the Milk Bar at Hounsdown and the Cottage Cafe in Ringwood Road, a notorious place but they had some great pin tables at the rear, and most of us came out with more than we went in with as Ken Hunt used to pay out in cash!! 3d a go it was then!! And most people bought a pounds worth of threepenny pieces to go in with. Now there is a plan to revamp the town starting at the end of this year (2003) but will it ever be a host of memories to the generations that now live here? Back in the 60s there was a population of around 29,000 but the builder has gradually crept out into the neighbouring fields to build giant housing estates along the Ringwood Road right up to Netley Marsh. Chris Hayles Botley...... It all came about it seems from a mock trial that was held in one of the local pubs before the First World War, when local tradition had it that a newcomer or stranger to the village had to down a pint in one go, if he failed he was tried by the locals and sentenced was passed. On this particular day the poor sod who couldn't down his pint was sentenced to be hung, so they stood him on a barrel, put a rope around his neck ready for the mock hanging. In those days before WW1, it was the thing for German Military Bands to visit England and tour the villages to entertain the folk. Unfortunately on this particular day just as the locals had stood our friend on the barrel with the rope around his neck when the German Oompah Band entered the village square. In the rush to go and see the band the barrel was knocked over and the mock hanging became a real hanging and the victim was killed. This then became known as the Botley Assizes, or "Botley 'sizes". I don't know if it is still remembered around Botley, or even if it was true, but then such tales are what makes "Country Loife wat it is yew" LEN PAYNE More on Botley this is the event as told to me by my father, Maurice Hatley. In the pub one night there was much excitement after a hanging at Winchester Jail. The village idiot was in the pub and asked his half drunk mates how a hanging was done, so the landlord found a piece of rope and threaded it through the old lantern hook in the ceiling, made a noose of it and got the lad to stand on a chair and put the rope over his head, saying this is how it's done, at that moment the military band passed by the pub on a recruiting parade and all the folk in the pub rushed out to see what was going on, in the haste the chair was knocked over and the poor lad was hung. Since that sad day Botley became known as the town where they hang people without judge or jury. If you went into a pub in the town for many years after the event and mentioned it you would find you self in a brawl over it. Botley it seems in those days was a rough and harsh place. Dad is not sure of the date, it was before he was born in 1920, he thinks perhaps 1890 / 1900. Also the name of pub seems lost in the mists of time. Christine Gibbons FOOTNOTE: Botley Assizes from the Dictionary of Phrase and Fable by E. Cobham Brewer - 1894. "The joke is to ask a Botley Man "When are the Assizes coming on", an innuendo supposed to be implied to the tradition that the men of Botley once hanged a man because he could not drink so deep as his neighbours." LEN PAYNE Owslebury and torn trousers...... When my parents moved to an estate named
Longwood, near Owslebury, I was about 8 years old. Mum sent me to the
village, (about 3 miles by cart track and bitumen but much less via
the fields. On negotiating one of the barbed wire fences my shorts
were torn. BEN SKEATES, Australia STEALING CABBAGES .Joseph Whale, 26, carpenter, was indicted for being concerned with one Charles Fielder, who pleaded guilty to the offence and was convicted before the magistrates, in stealing 44 cabbages, valued at 5s. 6d:, the property of the Winchester Urban Authority, on the 19th of June, at St. Catherine's hill. Mr Bullen prosecuted and Mr Roumieu defended. The particulars of evidence were given when the case was before the magistrates. Police-constable Wadmore saw two men in the field, apparently gathering something. He went towards them and found the cabbages in their possession. They said they had found them, but both were taken into custody, and Fielder pleaded guilty to having stolen them. Mr W. Gamon, city surveyor, described how he identified the cabbages by comparing them with the roots left in the ground. In defence, Mr Rournieu contended that his client could not have been identified by Wadmore from Rackhills, and that he might have met Fielder when the constable accosted them, especially when they were told that other men were about the place that morning. The pumping station was, doubtless, one of the "lions" of Winchester, and many of the jury would know that the constable could not have identified Whale at the distance, and it might be true that both men might have picked the cabbages up in Bull-drove. The jury ought, under the circumstances, to give the prisoner the benefit of the doubt. The learned Recorder having summed up, the jury returned a verdict of guilty. There were seven previous convictions against the prisoner, and he was sentenced to six months imprisonment, the learned Recorder saying that the evidence was of the clearest character and the convictions proved that the prisoner's life was hardened as to its criminal character. ROD WHALE, Andover, UK
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