Nostalgic memories of Bournemouth's local history

Share your own memories of Bournemouth and read what others have said

For many years now, we've been inviting visitors to our web site to add their own memories to share their experiences of life as it was when the photographs in our archive were taken. From brief one-liners explaining a little bit more about the image depicted, to great, in-depth accounts of a childhood when things were rather different than today (and everything inbetween!). We've had many contributors recognising themselves or loved ones in our photographs.

Why not add your memory today and become part of our Memories Community to help others in the future delve back into their past.

Add a Memory!

It's easy to add your own memories and reconnect with your shared local history. Search for your favourite places and look for the 'Add Your Memory' buttons to begin

Displaying Memories 11 - 20 of 28 in total

My great grandparents worked and lived at 3 Upper Terrace in Bournemouth in 1936 and they lived at 26 Grant Avenue in Bournemouth in 1935. Their names were Verena and Douglas Walters. If anybody has any memories of them i would love to hear them.
I remember fondly working during school holidays selling ice creams on Bournemouth beach. I worked for the Corporation and had to wear full length white overalls and push a large yellow barrow filled with ice creams. Used to park it on the west cliff and walk along the beach selling ice creams Has anyone got a picture of one of us ?
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 ...see more
House Beautiful was a convalescent home run by the Sunday School Union. I was sent there in April 1942 and my sister Anna went in Oct. 1942 from Derbyshire. We were aged 8 and 4. My grandfather knew the matron and she allowed us to stay there for until the Second World War ended in May 1945. I took my big teddy with me but it was put on the piano in the playroom and I was not allowed to touch it and it soon ...see more
I have some lovely memories of House Beautiful, me and my 4 sisters were sent there to give my widowed mum a break and us a holiday. I loved the daily walks to the beach, especially going down the zigzag path with shells in the walls, and when it rained sitting in the playroom listening to a recording of 'Peter and the Wolf'. I didn't much like the dorms with the peepot in the middle of the room though, lol. I ...see more
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 ...see more
We enjoyed a wonderful family holiday in the sixties, staying with Mrs Honeygold in a lovely house near Horseshoe Common. We still have a few photos of our visit to Compton Acres, a beautiful garden just outside town. Although it is nearly ten years since we last visited Bournemouth we have such happy memories of the town and nearby places where we always felt at home.
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 ...see more
My mother needed a rest and I had just had my tonsils out when I was sent to the House Beautiful for a fortnight. For some reason she told me it was a convalescent home but when I arrived I found it full of very boisterous children, mostly from London. I remember playing with a magnet on a piece of string in the garden and queuing up for a spoonful of thick green 'tonic' in the playroom each day and also each of ...see more
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 ...see more