Christmas Cheer 1955

I was reading the 1955 edition of the magazine 'Christmas Cheer'. Inside, were several adverts, the cheeriest being the one for E Dingle which advertised itself as the ideal place for Christmas shopping for everything 'from toys to televisions'. Dingles was in the same place then as it is today on Royal Parade although their store would have been relatively new with the rebuilding of the City Centre after the Second World War.

The second advert shows the ideal present to buy your wife in 1955 - a washing machine! Well, that's what the South West Electricity Board thought! I wonder how many wives who got a washing machine for Christmas eventually filed for divorce? I don't think it would go down too well today as a present for Christmas! Things have certainly changed. There was also an advert for a set of Christmas lights from Osram which then cost £1 a box. What's funny is that, almost 60 years later, you can still get them for the same price! The last advert shows 'the ideal Christmas gift' - a National Savings Gift Token which could be bought in multiples of 15 shillings (now 75p).

What fun it must have been on Christmas morning with mum unwrapping her new washing machine and the kids excitedly receiving their National Savings Gift Tokens. I wonder what dad got? There were no other Christmas adverts in the magazine but plenty of adverts for long forgotten companies such as Hatchards the book shop, Pophams, Charles Harding, the Magnet Restaurant , Beechwoods and Rediffusion. Also featured in the magazine were several quizzes. The Literary Quiz had a prize of a £10 book token, the Hilda Haddon Sporting Quiz had a first prize of a fireside chair and the Spot the Inn competition had a first prize of 3 bottles of Sherry, a bottle of Dimple Whisky, a bottle of Port and one dozen bottles of Golden Diamond. You would've needed to have been a very serious drinker to have been able to recognise all twelve of the pub interiors. The magazine also featured ghost stories, stories from the past and a joke featuring Santa and his reindeer covered in destination stickers. For one shilling, in a time when there were no Xboxes or Playstations, it seemed the ideal gift for dad!

Newlands at Saltash Passage

Here's a photo of 'Newlands' which was built by W E Elliot in 1860 after he reclaimed 120 acres of mud flats on the River Tamar. At the beginning of the 1900s, the building was bought by the trustees of the Mount Edgcumbe training ship and used as a cottage hospital and sick bay. It was eventually purchased by the Ministry of Defence and marked the entrance of their Ernesettle depot until it was demolished in 1922.

A couple of days ago, I thought that I would take a walk down to the 'top secret' armaments depot at Saltash Passage (it's so secret that it's signposted 'armaments depot'!) to see if anything remained of Newlands. At first glance, it appeared that nothing was left so I just enjoyed the walk and took some photos in the Autumn light. As I walked further along the

road however, I noticed several passing areas and the final one, unusually for a passing area, had a fireplace in it! I think that this must be all that remains of Newlands and probably today goes largely unnoticed. It's interesting to think of all the activity that must have taken place here when the Training Ship Mount Edgcumbe was moored close by. Nowadays, it's deadly quiet. I'm sure many people must work at the armaments depot but you certainly never see any of them and apart from the odd barge going up and down the river, it would be easy to imagine that the area has been abandoned.

New books from Amberley Publishing

This month, I have two new books coming out, both from Amberley Publishing. The first, which is out today, is called 'Saltash Through Time' and features 92 old photos together with 92 colour newer photos. The book features Fore Street, Waterside, Sand Quay, Port View, the Tamar and Royal Albert bridges as well as a look at nearby villages including St Stephens, Forder and Antony Passage. The photos show the many changes that have taken place in the area over the last 100 years or so. Some areas have seen major differences with many new buildings replacing ones destroyed in the Second World War or during more modern improvements. Some areas have hardly changed at all.

The second book is 'The Rame Peninsula Through Time'. Rame is one of my favourite places and I especially enjoy visiting the Mount Edgcumbe Estate. Within the book are many photos of old and new Mount Edgcumbe as well as pictures of Cawsand, Kingsand, Fort Picklecombe, Whitsands, Rame Head, Maker and Port Wrinkle. This book should be out sometime next week. More details can be found about both books by clicking on the links on the right hand side of this blog. I hope that you will find them both enjoyable and interesting.

The Exhibition Fields at Pennycomequick

Many people will have read my blog posting about Buffalo Bill and his appearance at the Exhibition Fields in 1904 with his Wild West Show. Many other events took place there over the years but perhaps many of you will be wondering where the Exhibition Fields actually were. The picture shown here is the only one I've found showing an event taking place at the fields which were located at Pennycomequick. Tents can be seen in the background (click on the photo to make it larger) but it's not known what the event was. So that you can get your bearings, on the right of the picture is Alma Road and the now long gone Toll House would have stood far right and still existed when this photo was taken. The Exhibition Fields now form the far end of Central Park and the brow of the hill seen in the picture was once known as the 'Great Hill'. It's amazing to think of all of the events that would have gone on there over the years and it makes you wonder what lies under the soil just waiting to be found. I hope to write more about the Exhibition Fields in a later post.

Coach trip at Saltash Passage in the early 1900s

This lovely old photo was taken in Saltash Passage in the early 1900s. The area is instantly recognisable today and the buildings in the background remain the same. On the left is the old ferry waiting rooms and behind the horses is the Ferry House Inn. It's interesting to see the old cobbles and tramlines now long buried under modern tarmac.

It's obviously a very wet day and the people in the photo don't look too happy, maybe because of this. I recognise the people near the horse as being members of the Donne family and their descendants still live in the Passage today. I wonder how many other local families appear in this picture.

I've no information about the photo so it's impossible to know what the

event or trip was or where it was going. The poor horses are all skin and bone and it's easy to count their ribs. The obviously didn't get fed as well as they should have. Perhaps this photo was taken during wartime.

There's a banner on the side of the coach and the man at the top is carrying a large flag but I haven't been able to read much on it. One of the words on the banner looks like 'play'.

This is certainly a very interesting photo and one that I'd never seen before until I was kindly sent it by Saltash historian, Bruce Hunt.

The Police Box at St Budeaux

Long before Doctor Who made his first appearance on tv in 1963, there were Police telephone boxes scattered all over Britain. They were once commonplace and everyone recognised them. Many kids watching Doctor Who today will wonder what a Police box was. Many people of my age and older will remember the box that stood on Outlands Road for many years. It disappeared a long time ago and was about 50 years old then. It was regularly opened when Plymouth Argyle was playing. The above photo shows a Police box that once stood in St Budeaux Square. I wonder how many older residents can still remember it? At one time, it was an essential link for policeman on the beat. If the amber light on top flashed, it meant that there was an emergency call to answer. Policemen with prisoners would lock them inside until reinforcements showed up. Lost children and animals would also end up in the box. 

The phone inside would have been a Bakelite type one with an old fashioned dial. Police in the 1960s and 1970s would have laughed at how old fashioned this all was when walkie talkies became commonplace but it seems even further back in time from today when everyone is linked by a mobile phone or the internet. Gone are the days of bobbies on bicycles cycling to the nearest Police box to report a crime. The world's moved on but I think that I might prefer things back then!

West Park in the 1960s and 1970s

These two photos show West Park as it was in the 1970s. On the left of the first photo can be seen the Mobil Garage with its huge circular roof covers. I remember this building well as I used to face it every week day while waiting for the bus to go to school. On the right, can be seen Crystal Batteries and a Co-op lorry can be seen approaching the traffic lights.

There are quite a few shops that I can recall from the 1960s and 1970s. The newsagents was Eastabrooks (where my mum worked) and next door was the Off-Licence. Eastabrooks later became Cooper's News, NSS and today is ABC Butchers. One of my favourite shops as a kid, back in the 1960s, was Edward's the toy shop which was where Crystal Batteries appears in the photo shown. Across the road was the Co-op (it's the library today), a small chemist and the petrol station. Behind was Goodbody's and another supermarket, The Supreme (it's a carpet shop today). Also in Coombe Park Lane was the popular post office which unfortunately went the way of all other post offices up and down the country. Across from the Supreme was the fish and chip shop (it's still there) and upstairs there was a barber who would shear your hair just before you were due back at school after the holidays! Opposite Eastabrooks, across the road, was Liptons, Dewhursts Butchers, another butchers, the Make and Mend shop (it's still there) and a Mace shop which became a house a long time ago. There have been many shop changes over the years and there was a shop for a while that just sold wool. Knitting once seemed a lot more popular pastime.
In the second photo, many of the shops I've mentioned can be seen. It looks like the wool shop has become 'Him and Her'. Peter Goords can be seen on the left by the carpark and the old red phonebox can be seen outside the newsagents. I think the Supreme became some sort of music shop for a while.
In some ways, it looks like it hasn't changed much over the years but in other ways it's changed greatly. West Park is now overflowing with fast food outlets, the supermarkets have closed, the old newsagent has disappeared and McColls has taken over the premises where Liptons used to be. The red phone boxes have long gone as has the post office (although it's now a sorting office) in Coombe Park Lane. I can't remember when Edwards closed down but it's certainly a very long time ago since I bought toys in there! Of course, the area is a lot busier today with constant traffic, a lot more scruffy and run down and doesn't seem to be the place I remember when I was a boy. Perhaps I've just got older!