WHO'S THAT?..WHERE'S THAT?..
On these pages, we'll show some photographs of people and places from Moordown past.
Unlike many of the more famous 'published' photos we often see, these are mostly from peoples' personal collections. Thanks to those who have contributed so far...
In some photos, it will be the places that may be of interest. In others, it will be the people.
It may of course be both......
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This one is from Janet Morton (née Watton) and shows a Home Guard group (the real 'Dad's Army'!) showing off their Lewis Gun..
This is believed to have been taken at New Rd, Parley.....
The Home Guard were deployed to defend New Rd Bridge during the early years of WW2, when the threat of a Nazi invasion was very real.
As you can see if you click on the photo, we only have one name so far - Janet's dad Frederick Watton.
Can you name any of the others?...Do let us know.
Thanks for this one Janet...
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This from Richard Briant (more often known by his middle name 'Frank' ) is of a photo taken of those who attended a local 'Dinner Dance' in 1956. It includes a number of folk associated with Kellaway's Delicatessen shop in Wimborne Rd.
Some of our older members may remember one or two of the faces, if they used the store in the 50s and 60s? ... As usual, just click on the photo below to see 'who's who' -- and if you can add any names to those that are currenty missing, do let us know....
Thanks for this one Richard...
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This one is of Willis' Builders Merchants netball team, from c.1960..
...Just click on the image to see the 'numbered' version..if you recognise anyone, do let us know...
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This next one may be a bit tricky .... we're not even certain it is of Moordown folk at all!
It shows a group of WW2 Civil Defence workers... Air Raid Wardens, Fire Wardens....First Aiders...etc......but it is believed to be a Moordown group. If you recognise any one from the group... or even where the photo was taken?... please do contact us...
UPDATE!: Ian Davis has emailed to confirm this is of the Moordown Civil Defence 'gang'.
Ian writes : "Regarding your picture of WW2 fire wardens and air raid wardens, my uncle (Fred Davis) confirms that this is the Moordown gang, as my grandfather (Herbert Davis) is on the far left-hand side of the photo wearing a trilby hat, just in front/left of the gentleman with the flat cap and grey goatee beard (he is Mr. Emmanuelle apparently). My grandfather was a fireman on the railways."
We've added a numbered version of this photo, which is higher definition, with the known names already listed. Just click on the photo below to see it. You can zoom in on the image for a more detailed look. If you can add any more names .....or can confirm where the photo was taken?.......please do make contact...
(I have to say I'm not too hopeful in getting names for numbers 68 and 85... but you never know!...)
Steve Mott has sent this photo of his grandmother, Doris Mott, stood on the step of 'The Tuck Box', a sweet shop and tobacconist she ran at 749 Wimborne Rd between 1956 and 1965.
Interesting to see the 'Wrigley's' chewing gum machine on the wall next to her...
These next two photos show the same spot today. Adjacent to the bus stop near the corner with Moorfield Grove. You can still see the step Mrs.Mott was standing on...even if the door's gone!! (The two shops 749 and 747 are now one unit)
I can well remember several of the sweets shops and tobacconists in Wimborne Rd had vending machines outside, in the 50s and 60s. 'Wrigley's' and 'Beech Nut' chewing gum.... big chrome cigarette machines.... glass topped poles, which held 'gob stoppers' for 1d each......Newsagents would leave papers in racks on the door frame when they were closed, and you placed the money through the letterbox!
Can't really see that happening these days!... although, even then not everyone was totally honest. Steve writes about the metal discs found in the cigarette machines, inserted place of coins, to try for 'free fags'......
This next one is from Maureen Richards, and shows her father, George Blake - who was Bournemouth's first 'lollipop' man, - at Winton and Moordown School in the early 1950s. Looks like a Christmas party of some sort......anyone recoginise any of the children?.....
(I wonder if he was known then as a 'lollipop' man? --- the early sign he's carrying doesn't look much like a lollipop!...
This next one is very much a 'people' photo. It was taken during an outing of the Moordown Baptist Church Youth Club to Badbury Rings (or nearby?) in the summer of 1944.
We know the picture was taken by club member, Beryl Fry, and amazingly, due to the research efforts and knowledge of our group member Russ Barnes, we know the names of nearly everyone in it!
This photo is nearly 70 years old, and sadly some of those pictured are no longer with us.
But they are (were) all Moordown folk!
Perhaps you know some of the names of those we can't yet identify?..
(You can double click on the photo to see an enlarged version - use your back button to return here)
1 - Mary Fletcher 2 - Joan Davis – now Gray
3 - Reg Kelloway (D). (Owned the cooked meat shop at 893 Wimborne Road. A truly warm hearted man, who ran the Baptist Youth Club)
4 - Tony Buckett (D) 5 -? 6 - Rev. Paterson 7- Margaret Marsh 8 - Alma Willis 9 - Hilda Barrett 10 - Kathleen Davis
11 - Geoff Lane (D) (Went to Canada in1953 on the £10 scheme. Journalist who became editor of a Canadian newspaper. Later university lecturer)
12 - Brian Clark 13 - Betty Bishop – now Foster 14 - Betty Claw 15 - Pat Laney – now Byne
16 - Hazel Whiting (D) – (Southampton Navy family which came to Bournemouth due to the Blitz.)
17 - Wendy Panormo (D) 18 - Harry Ness (D)
19 - David Bailey (D) (Became Senior Probation Officer in Liverpool ??. Died while swimming off Bournemouth Beach.)
20 - Dennis Alexander (D) 21 - Frank Claw 22 - Mark Hooper 23 - Derek Brown (D) 24 - Roy Claw
25 - Patricia Woods (believed to be living in/ near West Way) 26 - Alan Willis (Became an acknowledged expert on porcelain.)
27 - ? 28 - ? 29 - Johnny Woods (D)
30 - John Chislett (D) (escaped from the fire that followed the Halifax bomber crash in Moordown, which killed his father, Percy)
31 - Cyril Newton(D) (Became a violinist with the London Symphony Orchestra)
All those names followed by a (D) are sadly now deceased.
If you recognise any of those as yet unnamed, do drop us a line.....
(you can click on the photo, to get a better look if you wish).......
These next two are from Jenny Young, show the Parley Road celebrations for the Coronation in June 1953..
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Even if you don't know the names of anyone, it would be a reasonably safe bet to say that at least one of them would have the surname 'Troke'. As you will see from Bernie and Jill's account of this part of Moordown in their 'Hamlet on the Heath' booklet, the name 'Troke' has a virtually continuous assocation with Malvern and Parley Rd, for most of the 100 years before this photo was taken....
And you'd be right. The lady in the hat in the second photo, is Jenny's grandmother .....yes, you've guessed... Martha Troke!
Here's an earlier one of Martha, with her husband Henry, from around the turn of the century
She was also the mother of the little lad wearing the tie in middle of this next photo....
That would be my friend, Norman Troke. Now I didn't get to know Norman until after he retired, but I'm guessing he was about 7 in this photo. As he was born in 1923, that would make the date of the photo about 1930.
Looks possibly like a coach outing for Winton and Moordown Infants School... or possibly a Sunday School outing?.... does anyone recognise any of the other faces in the photo?.. or even exactly where it was taken?......
(Edit.... our eagled eye author, Berni Hallam, has spotted the location, by referring to the photo of Julian House, on page 25 of her 'Hamlet on the Heath' booklet.
The distinctive lines of light coloured bricks, on the house with the lady leaning out of the window, identifies the location as the top of Nursey Rd.
So very likely also to be a Sunday School outing for the Congregrational Chapel next door, which had been there since 1860).
Thanks for spotting that Berni!
Christina tells me that Ernie Luther is second left (that's looking at the photo), in the front row, and that the chap in the raincoat, at the far left of the photo, is Frank White.
If anyone from the photo is still alive, they would now be at least 110, so unlikely!...... I'll bet some of those lads were not long back from the Great War.....
But it is a Moordown photo, so you might be able to identify a grandad....or great grandad!!....and where was it taken ...Victoria Park ground perhaps ..or Redhill Common?..
Another from Christina, this time of the 43rd Bournemouth Wolf Cub pack leaders from 1942/43. The lady with the jacket was Mrs. Kirtley...
(Edit: We have been contacted by Al Kirtley, (Mrs. Kirtley's son) who now lives in Surrey. .. Al had never seen this photo before -- so was naturally very pleased to have found our site!
Al writes to say that the family had moved away from Bournemouth for a short time, following the death of his father in 1948, but had returned to Cowper Rd in the early 50s, where Mrs. Kirtley continued to teach the piano until she was into her 90s! She lived to be over a 100, and died in 1998. A remarkable lady!)
As leader, she would have been known as 'Akela'. Her assistant, known as 'Baloo,' we don't have a name for yet. Can you help?..
(The 43rd Bournemouth troop still exists, and is based at Victoria Park Methodist Church, so not strictly speaking Moordown ...but I'm pretty sure there would have been some Moordown boys involved....)
(and for those of you who weren't wolf cubs....'Akela' was the wolf from Kipling's Jungle Book, and 'Baloo' was the bear)
Reminds me of my own 'cub' days in the 1950's.. The 1st Bournemouth Wolf Cub and Scout troop was based at Holy Epiphany, in Castle Lane. 'Akela' was Harold Bond.... 'Baloo' was Mr. O'Brien.....Again, I believe the 1st Bournemouth Troop still thrives?.....
(EDIT: An email from Paul Sutton confirms the 1st Bournemouth Scout Group is still alive and well, and thriving. Good to hear that! )
(Just click HERE for more information on their current activities.....)
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This one, from Jill Cutler, is not strictly a Moordown photo, although her great-grandfather, Charles Steers (he's the one in the centre of the front row,marked with a star by his feet ) built a bungalow in Endfield Rd in 1918.
It was taken in the 1920's, but where? From the title, it was maybe outside a pub somewhere in Bournemouth or Poole... but which one? ...The buildings in the distance across the road look quite imposing... anyone recognise the pub?.....maybe no longer there?....
Of course, if you read the inscription properly, you notice that is the Victuallers 'Annual OUTING', so it's probably not in this area at all!
(As Capt. Mainwaring might have said .. just seeing who would spot that first! 
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EDIT: Feb 2016 --- It's the old Dolphin Hotel in Holdenhurst Rd (no longer a pub - now a Tesco Express!). Amazingly We received two completely independent emails on the same day, identifying the Hotel. One from Vernon Masterman, and one from Anna Ward....So thanks to both. Just click on the image above to see the same view today, taken specially by Vernon.....
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Another 'people' photo next. This time from a little later.....
This charming photo from Howard Dalton is of a group of children in 1954 --so 1st generation 'baby boomers'! Taken in the garden of Howard's home at the time -35 Hillcrest Rd.
Howard can remember nearly all the names... can you identify the missing ones?
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These next two are from the early 1950s. The first, from 1950, is of the teachers from Winton and Moordown Girls school. It was taken on sports day. We have the names, but are they all in the right place?...
From left to right (looking at the photo): Mrs. White, Miss Oldfield, Miss Caudell, Miss Watton, Miss Mitchell, Miss Weston, Miss McCauley, Miss Stomp. Miss Court. (In the background, Mrs. Dear)
Is that the correct order?...
The next one is from 1952, taken on the dock next to the Stirling Castle. It is of S4a, with Miss Dibden..
Thanks to Mary McRobie for those two.....
More photos to follow ... keep 'em coming!...