Let a goat take you for a ride along Southsea seafront!: RETRO
It is Southsea Common with the junction of Osborne Road and Western Parade to the rear.
I cannot write much more about it as I do not know more than what I have written. Perhaps a reader might be able to fill us all in?
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Hide AdIn the days before health and safety, here we see fireman Keith McGrail, below, covered in foam when fighting a fire at Bateway Engineering, in Hilsea Industrial Estate. The unit was destroyed causing more than £20,000 worth of damage.
It is no wonder firemen took to wearing crash helmet-type head protection. Keith’s ears and neck are open to burning, a frightful occupation if there ever was one.
Is Keith still with us in retirement does anyone know?
In the picture, below, we are looking west along South Parade with the Royal Beach Hotel on the right and the Savoy Ballroom in the distance. This building has now been replaced by the McCarthy and Stone apartments.
Outside the hotel can be seen a Black & White excursion coach.
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Hide AdPerhaps it is being used to give visitors a tour around the local area.
Above the rear of the coach can be seen Johanna’s the night club and disco that was destroyed in a blaze some years ago.
In the road can be seen a sit-up-and-beg Ford Consul, a very popular motor of the late fifties and early sixties.
On the traffic island to the right can be seen a police telephone which the general public could use in emergencies.
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Hide AdOn the evening of October 23,1970 two tankers collided six miles south of the Isle of Wight. In all, 13 crewmen died.
At 9pm the massive 43,000 ton oil tanker Pacific Glory was sailing up the English Channel heading for the Dutch port of Rotterdam.
A mile distant another tanker, the 46,000 ton Allegro, had altered course to avoid a collision with another tanker but was then on a collision course with the Pacific Glory.
With just a mile to out-manoeuvre it was an impossible task and the Allegro’s bow ploughed into the Pacific Glory.
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Hide AdHer tanks exploded causing an 80ft flames to soar into the sky.
Soon other tanks exploded setting the whole ship on fire. So fierce was the fire it could be seen from Portsdown Hill.
A few days later the Pacific Glory was towed to Southampton.
A terrific storm blew up and The News chief photographer Roy West was on the scene to take this dramatic shot of the tanker fighting the high sea.