recollections of a magical childhood

Parley Cross

Just found that photo of Parley Cross I was looking for...it is a bit before our time, hence no big trees on the corner of the cross roads. 

Also, two more old photos....Parley Cross Post Office and...............

Fantastic photos, where did you find them?

They are in a booklet about West Parley...it's written in an amateurish way but has those photo's which are of interest. Apparently, the first bridge over the Stour was washed away when it was only a few years old which is why they built the one in the photo, hence the steam rollers.

I had found a website (now taken down) selling these images and they are entitled "Dudsbury Cross" rather than "Parley Cross".  I also found another photo of the junction that had a note stating that when the shops were built in 1932 the crossroads were named Dudsbury Cross and then changed to Parley Cross in 1939.

[Note:  There's some more information about the bridge further down this page]

From the photo I can identify Parley Cake shop but no others.  I don't recall what the shop was where the Bachelor cigarette hoarding/signage is.  A Ford Thames 300E van with a Bournemouth "EL" registration plate (High-Class Butchers & Grocers - can you recall the retailer's name?) parked in front of a Morris Minor van.  I can't identify the car behind that.  On the other side, we have a van, but for the life of me, I cannot pinpoint the model (subsequently worked it out - Austin J4 - see below).  Rather intriguingly, it appears to have a Tri-ang logo on the front of it!  Behind that is a "sit-up-and-beg" Ford Popular or Anglia or Prefect and finally a Hillman Minx (Series II or III).  I think Chubbs Garage has an oval Esso sign outside it but cannot imagine what the tall "pub sign like" sign would have on it.  It is also visible in your image at the top of the page.  Perhaps it is a sign for the Horns Inn with, maybe an arrow pointing up the road opposite?  Trevor mentioned that he recalled seeing that in a photograph somewhere (See Page 10).  

When we moved back to Parley Cross in 1992 the Cake Shop, the Greengrocer's and the Butcher's were still there. (I'm afraid I don't recall the owner's names)...the greengrocer's shop was next to the Cakeshop followed by the Butcher's shop which was first to close down. I do remember that the last proprietor of the Greengrocer's shop, a lady, did a runner and disappeared suddenly as she owed a lot of rent which she couldn't pay. The Ironmonger's (behind the camera) was also still there. I suspect the shop with the 'Bachelor' sign above it was originally a cafe which became 'Phillip's toy shop in our time and is now a Barbers and Upcycled furniture and trendy arty-farty shop. The Cakeshop is now a Veterinary Surgery, and the remainder of the parade as far as the Barber's a Tile Shop. The Chemist next to the Ironmonger's (which now sells those exciting Spa baths) behind the camera is still trading and is like The Tardis inside also incorporating the Post Office.  

Occasionally, I search around for photos of Parley Cross from "our era".  And, there are a few groups on Facebook that I post to every few years to see what I can dig up.  All without any success so far I’m afraid.

The only photos we have are the 2 from your book on Parley plus Chubbs Garage (which may have been from the same book) and the one I found of Parley Parade (above).

A week or so back I, again, asked if anyone had any photos from the 1950s, 60s or before of Parley Cross and posted those we have that are on our website.  That set off a train of exchanges which went as follows:-

Quite amazing, isn't it, that we're now back in touch with Wilksie!!

Well, fancy stumbling upon old Wilksie after all these years!

My apologies to Rob for associating him with my smoking for 60 odd years; I just recall you (Clive), me and two other local miscreants sharing a puff in the woods one day. I don't think we even knew whether to suck or blow at the time, but seeing as you could buy those sweet cigarettes with the pink tip at the sweet shop packed in cigarette type boxes in those days, perhaps it's no wonder we had to give it a go.

I also remember the issue with Mr Mitchell's garage being legally unusable because the landowner had retained a 1-yard strip of land along the edge of the access roadway which he couldn't cross. We, at Mimosa, found it rather amusing that the Mitchells couldn't put their car away as we always thought Mr Mitchell a bit of a curmudgeonly old bugger. At Mimosa, we had no garage anyway so no problem.

Regarding the Ryders, I don't think I've mentioned that when we (Helen and I)first moved back to Parley in 1992 we became members of Parley Sports Club, purely for use as a local drinking spot you understand, and on several occasions, shared a few pints with some neighbours which included Dave Ryder.  At the time he was working for Kompass in Ferndown - a Building Services Company which maintained McCarthy Stone retirement flats in the area. Unfortunately, we never got properly into reminiscing mode as we were amongst other company. I think he moved away ...so a bit of a missed opportunity there.

The second house on the left in Church Lane looks like it has been converted into two houses I think. I do remember it having a wonderful back garden which may have since been built on. I don't remember the Knott' s I'm afraid.

A chap we know as "Denny" still lives at Number 10 Church Lane and has lived there since the 50's. In the 90's he used to run a small backstreet garage behind the Parley Cross garage. He's the one who told me he used to fancy your sister (Marion) back in the carefree days! Other original residents I'm still aware of down the lane are the Rossiters and the Toomers.

Do any of the other contacts here remember Mrs Wood's shop along Christchurch Road towards the Airport? It had a glass lean-to entrance if I remember correctly and we used to buy our eggs there.

A great new connection....

A few more recollections by some of those who have been replying to my requests for information and photos of Parley Cross from our time:-

Mrs King for the Christchurch Road sweet shop sounds a good possibility ... that name rings a distant bell somewhere. (Just can't recall an "It" amongst my synaps...or is it synapses?) Mind you, my memory bank for names has a number of dry joints, I fear.....bzzzt..fzzzt! 

I agree that Mrs King rings a very strong bell so I think we've solved that one! 

Also just remembered....when we first moved here there was a Mr and Mrs King living at No 8 Church Lane.  I remember because he used to wave his walking stick at anyone who drove too fast down the lane (Bloomin' right too).  Were they the same 'Kings" I wonder or relatives?  Nanna certainly used to talk about the KIngs I think.

Yes, it must have been the Kings who ran the sweet shop along Christchurch Road.  It looks like the shop was probably demolished when they widened the road at that point.  There is now a newish bungalow in that proximity which was subsequently enlarged about 10 years ago.  I wonder now if the Kings moved to Church Lane when the sweetshop was compulsorily purchased for the road widening.  Anyway, they both passed away about 8 - 10 years ago so we'll probably never know.

Agreed

The Redhill Ferry

Here's a couple more ...There was a ferry service near the end of Church Lane before the bridge was built, hence Redhill Ferry and on the other side of the river, there were Tea Gardens. Sorry about the quality of the scans.  There are no means of adjustment on this Kodak scanner (I've tried all different settings and DPI's) 

Often when we walk down to the river we try to establish exactly where the ferry was (there is a signpost pointing to a Riddles Ford) but we've not been able to establish the precise location of ford or ferry. It was supposedly 400yds along the river from the church. There is a brick box-like building beside the river on the Redhill side roughly in that area which has a ropeway across to the path on our side, but there are quite a few large trees (oaks) along the bank so it doesn't look a bit like the black and white photo. In fact, the photo shows hardly any trees close by. It may be that the curve in the river in the background is the same as that which curves away from the church a little.

I've added another photo to the website (below left) having searched Google for Marshall's ferry as it was named in that article which may give you a better idea of the location as the viewing point is slightly more elevated.

This is the only contour of the river path that seems to fit?

You could be right about the photo location(s).  They seem to fit.  What I can't understand is that it's nowhere near Redhill which, as you might recall, is much further down river beyond the end of the riverside path leading from the church but on the Moordown side of the river.  I've always assumed the 'Redhill Tea Gardens' were between the S-bends in the road near the 'Horse and Jockey' and the river.  At the end of Church Lane just near the church, there is a signpost (probably only about 20-30 years old, so not original) pointing along the river path stating 'Fiddler's Ford 400yds' .....but we can't see any point at which the river would be shallow enough to ford. I'd always assumed the ferry would have been around that point too.

I think we've cracked it thanks to your source of a 1904 map!   

The river course has clearly changed over the years but there's no doubt where the ferry (and strawberry and tea gardens) were - i.e. just NNW of where the "Inn" is near "Red Hill" marked on the old map on the left.  Well done - good teamwork!

I presume you recall the story of the local tragedy involving two sisters who drowned there in 1908 and who are buried in the churchyard?  Report here.

Yes, I had read that article on the two sisters who drowned when researching stuff before.

Did we fully appreciate that, in order for us to be able to leave our railway layout in situ throughout our holidays, Nanna and Pop-Pop had to sleep on the Put-U-Up whilst we commandeered their bed! And that must have meant that, before we went to bed, they must have had to get their clothes from their bedroom ready for the next day ready!

I believe they must have surrendered their bed to us as you say but I don't remember how they organised their clothing for the day.

What did we use to support the 4 railway boards? I have a feeling we used a combination of card tables and something else and used books from the bookcase to maintain a level surface. Do you remember any details?

We certainly used folding card tables to support the boards, 2 for each main board with the smaller linking boards resting on wooden strips screwed under the main boards; though I don't remember quite how we fitted the green sofa bed underneath....probably along the window side as that board was longer and would have allowed for a card table at each end. I guess the larger main board was 8' long and the shorter one about 6' 6"?

They were 8' x 4' and 6' x 4' (see Page 7).   

Back to Bournemouth

Some more nostalgic photos that will bring back the sensation of warm sun, diesel exhaust and Summer holidays!  The smell of Summer created when a Hants & Dorset bus belched out exhaust fumes as it accelerated past you on a hot day "in town". 

Gervis Arcade

It occurred to me that we often used to get the bus back to Parley Cross from Lansdowne and I can't think why unless we used to walk back from the beach that way, maybe from Toft Steps, rather than trekking to the Bust Station?

Only other reasons may have been:  there was the ABC cinema in Old Christchurch Road, Fortes on the corner and a second-hand shop in Holdenhurst Road.  We may have walked up Old Christchurch Road from Beales/Town centre or from the cliff lift.  Can't think of anything else.

The Horns Inn - This building was built in C17 and has been an inn since that time. Inns were often just rooms in private houses with beer brewed locally. Being on the main road between Wimborne and Christchurch it was well used by travellers and it is easy to visualise this location at the top of the hill being a welcome stopping point.

Bournemouth Central (again!)

It's pretty amazing what ground we've covered so far isn't it? Makes you wonder how the human brain creates these neuron links to memorise all this stuff - things said and images, etc. And, of course, access to the internet has meant we could rediscover all the information/photos.  It would have been almost impossible only 20 years ago! 

 Now, we're at a crossroads ourselves, aren't we? I feel we ought to put some of the railway stuff to use or something. When I get time I'll have a look more closely at the software that's around. The plan you made of our layout turned out quite good I thought, but now find I'm itching to do something more with it.......thinks.....! If we could create a simulation we could maybe play it as chess game....a bit like we used to play it with the models. (Or, maybe that's not feasible.) 

 Anyway, I'm sure we'll set off in a new direction shortly... 

In the search of the date when Bournemouth Central canopy was stripped back if these photo dates (below) are accurate, it looks as though it was all complete at least until 1959.

Photo dated 26/4/53  Photo dated 13/3/57  and Photo dated 4/1/59

Nice research work Trevor!  You got me started and I managed to find these......

Still there in September 1959 - But gone by May 1960!

On the Southern Railway EMail Group website, they state that "The extensive glass canopy and end panels were expensive to maintain and led to the removal of glass from the central sections by the early 1960s."

So, they were taken down between September 1959 and May 1960.  I am disappointed that I can't find any other mention of this nor any photos for what must have been quite a large project.

So how old were we when we started hanging around on the station do you think? 

Yes, what could have been the chronology?

1. Place these in order to try to lead us to the right dates.....

2. Interest in model railways starts

3. Meeting up in London for train spotting days

4. Travelling to Nanna and Pop's unaccompanied

5. Me coming to your house unaccompanied to visit you at your John Hart railway sessions

6. Our first mutual holidays in Parley Cross

7. Construction of our holiday model railway layout on boards

Can you think of any other significant and relevant events that might help us pinpoint the year(s) we would go to Bournemouth Central?

Just thought of another...

Access to and having use of the Brownie Box Camera (which we used to good effect)

Back to you...

I'll think about it.......but one thing which probably marks the big change in our interests is:

When we started to loll in Bournemouth Gardens "bird watching" (wink, wink).......  I also seem to recall listening to those other "Byrds"  singing Mr Tambourine Man which was about the same time as we started reading James Bond books on the seafront.  Say....1962/3? 

What think you?

Hmmmm,

Not sure if my suggestion helps but if I try to date some events we'll, perhaps, find out whether or not it's worth pursuing.

When?

Our first mutual holidays in Parley Cross.  I assume this would have been when both our parents decided to holiday there together or to dump us there together so they could enjoy some peace!  I have no strong recollection of when this might have begun.  Have you?

1954/58

Interest in model railways starts.  I remember receiving the Princess Elizabeth trainset (or I had something else before it) which came with Standard Track (that grey stuff - here).  That was introduced in 1954 and was replaced by 58.

1957 onwards

Meeting up in London for train spotting days and me coming to your house unaccompanied to visit you at your John Hart railway sessions.  See below for the reasoning for this date year

1959/60

Travelling to Nanna and Pop's unaccompanied.  We wouldn't have gained our parents' approval to do this until we had spent, maybe, 2 years' of days in London transporting (thus proving we were responsible and capable of getting around using public transport).  I definitely recall at least one journey from Primary School (and there may have been more) and, maybe, some thereafter from Secondary School.  My last Summer at Primary School would have been 1960. 

Construction of our holiday model railway layout on boards

Access to and having use of the Brownie Box Camera (which we used to good effect) 

1963/63

Reading James Bond books on the seafront.  See This - I think we started with the more modern artwork versions

Bournemouth Gardens "bird watching"....... - probably around the same time (given the normal development of young boys' interests in such things!)

June 1965

Listening to those other "Byrds"  singing Mr Tambourine Man

August 1965

Listening to I've Just Seen a Face by the Beatles

So, I would think, train spotting trips to Bournemouth Central would have begun around 1959, just when the glazing was being taken down!

Feel free to challenge any of my assumptions!

I'm still trying to think of events which might pin down the dates of our adventures; so still thinking............

I remember one year travelling down to Bournemouth in my dad's old Austin 7 and on the journey back Nanna advised him to try returning via Matcham's Lane. The steering on the old jalopy had nearly half a turn of play in it and, as a result of the sharply undulating road, we ran off uncontrollably onto the verge at one point. I would have been about 6 or 7 years old. So in about 1956/7.

Also, purely for the excitement of it without telling my mum, once or twice I would buy a return ticket from Berrylands to Waterloo with my pocket money and just went there and back for something to do (again probably when I was about 7 or 8).

I think I remember my mum taking me to Waterloo on one occasion to see me (or us?) onto the Bournemouth train. The fare was in the region of 27/- to 36/- I believe. Did someone meet us at Bournemouth, I wonder?

I remember Pop-Pop meeting us once (See Page 5)

I would guess you're right about when we started travelling down alone to be in around 1959/60.

I'm not sure but I think over the Christmas of 1962/63 during the great (3ft?) snowfall, we may have had a family Christmas at Berrylands before travelling down to Bournemouth. I wonder if that was with Nanna and Pop going back down?

Was that not the year when we went to Eastleigh sheds ??

I'll think on..........

It's so funny what you remember isn't (you and your Dad's Austin 7 with the play in the steering!).  I had an old Ford Pop' when I was working for Ford in Liverpool.  That had about 4 inches of play so, as much of it was on motorways I spent most of the 7-hour journey oscillating from one end of the travel and back again!  That was quite tiring (and mind-numbing!).

My first car was a sit up and beg Ford Pop (in blue!).  After a while, the steering gradually stiffened up but I got quite accustomed to it developing muscular arms.  Eventually, it got a bit difficult to steer smoothly round corners so I took it to a garage and parked outside. When the mechanic went to take it into the workshop, he couldn't steer it out of the parking space so had to repair it in the car park.  Funny what comes back to mind.

As for us travelling around London on our own, I still can't get my head around how we got permission from our parents to do this - it's not like they were irresponsible, is it?

The major snowfall in the Winter of 1963/64 (which we refer to on Page 8) sounds very likely as the year when we travelled back to Bourmeouth with Nanna and Pop.  It may have been the holiday during which we went to Eastleigh, but I don't think the snow was extraordinarily deep on that trip.

Looking forward to more of your thoughts!

...just realised that one of the events I suggested to tie down the date of the end screen glazing removal (use of Brownie Box Camera) and you wondering when we started train spotting at Bournemouth Central would have both been at the same time.

I see from page 7 of our website that they'd gone by then.  So, we were in that phase from 1960 onwards.

Yes, I would have been about 10 years old which seems a reasonable age to be gadding about in those days.

Taking these in reverse order, it is still amazing that we were allowed to venture up to London at weekends to wander from Liverpool Street to St Pancras, Waterloo to Euston via Victoria, King’s Cross and Charing Cross. Ian Allen book of British Railway Locomotives (price 2/6) in hand, we would take as many numbers down as we could. But it was more about the sights, smells and sounds than about completing the list of engines seen in a particular class (see video at the bottom of Page 16).  

I remember admiring GWR Hall and King classes, with their copper/brass chimneys and domes, on a sunny day at Paddington Station.  I can actually "see" a certain snapshot - walking with you towards the platform head, station buildings to our left and then looking back over my right shoulder to see a light engine (Hall or King) chuffing out of the station!

One item we used to include when packing lunches for train-spotting days out was a Hayles fruit pie!  Do you remember those?  They came in a cardboard box and had a foil tray.  I seem to recall Apple, Apricot and Blackcurrant versions.

Of course I do remember the pies! We used to call them cardboard pies because...well because even the pastry tasted like cardboard (didn't really need the box) and/or was it Apple and Blackberry (you're right, it was).  Filled a space anyhow, didn't they!  After the egg sandwiches...poo!  Which brings to mind Duffel Bags?  They used to hold that smell for weeks!

They apparently got the name from the town of that name, in Belgium, where the cloth originally used to make them was produced. 

A couple of others that would get me to Chingford Mount were the 38 or the 69.  Both shots were taken from an identical position.  Note the shop called Stanwood in the left-hand photo.  I remember pre-ordering upcoming Beatles albums in that shop.  The cost was 32/6 (6/8 for a single!).  “Would you like the Mono or the Stereo version sonny?”  Obviously, I went for the stereo version in view of my parents' futuristic "stereogram"! (see Page 10).  I remember the extreme excitement when the day came to go and collect it.