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Bournemouth
Bournemouth photos
Displaying the first of 196 old photos of Bournemouth. View all Bournemouth photos
Bournemouth maps
Historic maps of Bournemouth and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Bournemouth maps
Bournemouth area books
Displaying 1 of 16 books about Bournemouth and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Bournemouth
Displaying a selection of personal
memories of Bournemouth.
There are 18 shared memories to read.
Add your memory of Bournemouth
or of a photo of Bournemouth.
Wartme Bournemouth.
Bournemouth is remembered by many as a wonderful holiday venue. A place of golden sands, the Pleasure Gardens, shops, cinemas and theatres. I was born here in 1936, when it was in the county of Hampshire. Pre war memories are obviously vague. As I grew up I saw the effects the war was having upon my home town. The beach was still accessible, however the area of sea had been reduced with the introduction of scaffold bars laced with barbed wire. Designed to prevent landing craft. To the west of the Pier Entrance stood several 'Dragon's Teeth'. Concrete blocks about 4 feet square with a pyramid top. [Anti Tank defences.] In later years a large mine was added, this was in close proximity to the 'Dragons Teeth' and was painted a bright red. On the top an engraved slotted brass disc had been inserted, this was for donations, I think were for the families of the seamen both R.N. and Merchant Navy who had perished. Alongside the railway lines were scattered pill... Read more
Summer of 64
In June 1964 a group of us Belfast grammar school boys crossed the sea to Liverpool and took the long coach journey south to spend the school summer vacation working in the Bournemouth beach cafes.
Three of us shared a bedroom at Pat and Alvin's, a short bus ride from the town centre. Our "digs" cost just £1.10s a week each, out of a wage of £5 at the beach cafes. The cafe provided lunch and in the evening we dined at the Golden Griddle in the Square. We all smoked in those days and were able to buy clothes out of our pay packets:the fashions that summer were bell-bottom jeans, pink shirts and grey crewnecks. We grew our school regulation short-back-and sides down to our shoulders.
In the two months we stayed in Bournemouth it rained one afternoon, that was all. Of course we were incarcerated in the dark steamy wash-ups of the cafe during the blazing daytime hours. But the... Read more
Dancing at The Pavilion
My name is Brian Johnson and I was born in Bear Cross, Kinson, Bournmouth in 1934. Twenty years later I used to spend most Saturday evenings dancing at the Pavilion or The Town Hall. On a Sunday we used to go to the Afternoon Tea Concerts in the Pavilion before going to the Westover Cinema to watch a favourite film. Another place we went dancing was at the YMCA opposit the Pavilion, next to the Westover Cinema. I also remember the huge sparkling ball rotating over the dance floor of the Boscombe Pala. The other popular place for dancing was the Stokewood Road Swimming Baths, which were closed in the winter to the swimmers but opened for dancing, it had the only sprung floor in the town. As you can see most of our time was spent dancing. Happy Memories!
My Dear Home Town of Bournemouth
I was born there in 1928, in Boscombe Hospital, Bournemouth, and lived in Bournemouth till 1962. There is no where like Bournemouth, lovely beaches, stores, theatres, the Chines, and Shell Bay. An excursion to Poole and then to Canford Cliffs, and on a little ferry across to Shell Bay. Of course, you then wanted to go to Corfe Castle. Another favourite spot for my mother and I was Hengistbury Head on a Sunday afternoon with our picnic and the sometimes, a trip from Bournemouth Pier on the boat to the Isle of Wight. Also I remember, having a little boat and playing with this in the little river down thru the Gardens. Later on, thru the war years, my favourite place was the Pavilion, where being a dance nut, I spent all my free time listening to great music and dancing the n ights away. Of course, our town was a little different thru 1941-1945, with all the troops based there, thousands and thousands, but I just... Read more
Bournemouth Gardens
When I was a child, my parents and my two brothers went to Bournemouth every
year for 2 weeks holiday. I have nothing but happy memories of Bournemouth and Boscombe and the surrounding towns. I am now nearly 56 but I still long to go back in time and revisit the places as they used to be. I still go on holiday to
Bournemouth. I think its my favourite place in the whole world, and now that my father is no longer with us, all my memories feature him. I love him and miss him.
The gardens were wonderful. There was a small paddling lake and my brothers
would take their toy boats there and push them along. Happy happy days that
I miss so much.
This is a view of Bournemouth Square taken from the end of Avenue Road.
Speculation
My brother and I think this maybe a photo of our Grandfather and our Great Uncle followed by our Grandmother and our Great Aunts (the two gentlemen with dark jackets and light trousers, one carrying a stick or brolly).
My Family
The photo is similar to one in my personal collection. The two gentlemen in the forefront of the picture are my Grandfather & my Great Uncle, two of the ladies behind them are my Great Aunts, the other became my Grandmother.
