Danny Jo
New member
Danny Jo's avatar, 74 years on, wanted a day out to visit her 90-year-old cousin in Gosport. (At the avatar's last visit to Gosport she was obliged to take shelter during a bombing raid that caused railings from the barracks to land on the roof of her shelter.) Our first stop was the marina for a guided tour of a proper boat, whose keel was laid some ten years earlier than the avatar's.
The saloon is studded with her racing medals - three firsts in the Hook, a second and two thirds in the Fastnet. Racing appears to have been conducted in a different spirit in those days (er, in quite a lot of brandy, according to her log) and they weren't averse to interrupting the race to hail a passing fishing boat for fresh sole.
Her present owner told me that there was an excellent Chandlery just around the corner.
Arthur's chandlery occupies one of the few surviving prewar buildings in central Gosport, and was previously used as a bottling plant by Mumby and Co., a firm established by the avatar's great grandfather. Introducing myself as a descendant of its previous occupants, I was given a guided tour by the proprietors. Some of the machinery for lifting water from the well under the building was still in place. (Apologies, the picture is upside down, but I haven't sussed how to invert it in Photobucket.)
I persuaded* Arthur's to part with one of the bottles they had found on the premises.
Then it was on to see the ferry terminal.
After lunch, we tried to get into the old War Memorial Hospital to see the memorial to the avatar's aunt, who had been the hospital's first matron.
Alas, the original hospital buildings were shut.
We returned via Swanwick Shore, to find that the avatar's dad's old house was unchanged.
Moody's yard, where dad used to work on his boat, is now a monster marina. But you can still leave by the back yard gate and in a few steps be on the shore of the Hamble.
* A great day out, so what's the catch? Well, to persuade Arthur's to part with their old bottle, I had to buy a Rocna
The saloon is studded with her racing medals - three firsts in the Hook, a second and two thirds in the Fastnet. Racing appears to have been conducted in a different spirit in those days (er, in quite a lot of brandy, according to her log) and they weren't averse to interrupting the race to hail a passing fishing boat for fresh sole.
Her present owner told me that there was an excellent Chandlery just around the corner.
Arthur's chandlery occupies one of the few surviving prewar buildings in central Gosport, and was previously used as a bottling plant by Mumby and Co., a firm established by the avatar's great grandfather. Introducing myself as a descendant of its previous occupants, I was given a guided tour by the proprietors. Some of the machinery for lifting water from the well under the building was still in place. (Apologies, the picture is upside down, but I haven't sussed how to invert it in Photobucket.)
I persuaded* Arthur's to part with one of the bottles they had found on the premises.
Then it was on to see the ferry terminal.
After lunch, we tried to get into the old War Memorial Hospital to see the memorial to the avatar's aunt, who had been the hospital's first matron.
Alas, the original hospital buildings were shut.
We returned via Swanwick Shore, to find that the avatar's dad's old house was unchanged.
Moody's yard, where dad used to work on his boat, is now a monster marina. But you can still leave by the back yard gate and in a few steps be on the shore of the Hamble.
* A great day out, so what's the catch? Well, to persuade Arthur's to part with their old bottle, I had to buy a Rocna
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