Off on honeymoon from Portsmouth Airport | Nostalgia
They were Bob and Francis Skull, the aunt and uncle of Jim Gardener who supplied the photograph. The bride was Jim’s mother’s sister and her parents are to the left of the couple, Ada and second husband Billy Williams. Doesn’t everyone look stylish, all dressed to the nines. The bridegroom still has confetti on his jacket and overcoat.
Shortly after returning the newlyweds moved to Durban, South Africa. Billy later won £6,000 on Littlewood’s Pools worth nearly half a million pounds in today’s money.
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Hide AdOn the right between the aircraft and the wing prop are Jim’s parents Gerald and Peggy Gardener. Jim tells me the man back left with a trilby was a lookalike for silent movie star Ben Turpin lookalike.
Jim and his father were builders in Portsmouth, firstly in Chester Place and later in Haslemere Road, Southsea. Four generations: HA Gardener, then GL, TJ, and finally TC. Can anyone identify the plane?
• I know there are many metal detector fans in the area and my good pal Jim must have one of the best collections of coins found here.
He never detects in farmers’ fields, always on the beach below the high tide waterline. This is just one page from an album of his finds. The oldest is a George III coin dating from 1760. One amusing item Jim found at Portchester was a coin from Clarence Pier funfair when it was Funacres. Can anyone date it and know its value?
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