Before the Rec. was done, we used to go down and kick about in what now is all brambles, down the Mill. Old Harry Jackman had cows down there then , and he also used to have them out around the copse. Providing they weren’t there for milking, we used to go down there and kick about. It was cut a bit like a field, it was nothing much, it was very rough.
Other than that we used to get messing about in Mill Copse and Thorley Copse, we were always out there.
In those days you couldn’t go over the bridge because you had to pay so we always went towards Bouldnor. We used to try and scrabble along the front – Nicholson’s path – down by what is now Port La Salle. It’s still there now. To save having to come up and go right round there, we used to try and scrabble along there and keep out of sight of the gamekeeper with his dogs. It wasn’t too bad if the tide was out, we used to get by. We used to go right along then as far as the old Stone Pier usually. Of course that’s mostly disappeared, during the war most of it. It’s a pity really that went. Phil Kelsey b1920
Tag Archives: Stone Pier
Joan Cokes: Early Days
My father was employed as a gardener and worked in several different places. He worked for The Pier Hotel (now the George Hotel), in the garden opposite the school. In Ommanney Road, there was a garden owned by the Bugle where he also worked. That was next to a vegetable garden for The Towers. He grew the vegetables for his own family in an allotment at the top of Victoria Road.
The bridge was a toll bridge and regular users got a weekly ticket. Dad worked for the Tophams over in Norton as a gardener, and so had a weekly ticket. We children used to sneak behind a charabanc to get over the bridge without paying.
I can remember getting winkles from Pier Shore and the Common up to Bouldnor as far as Stone Pier, and prawning off the Common – I remember seeing seahorses there.
Joan Cokes nee Cooper b1918