NOSTALGIA: Breakdown or accident on Portsdown Hill?

Broken down on the hill. A different angle to Tuesdays photograph and we can see the RAC/AA man attending the car on the left. Picture: Barry Cox Collection

I have enlarged the photo even further than the version here and it appears that on the kerb is a bicycle. I wonder ifÂ the car struck the cycle.

On the right isÂ a bus on its way to Horndean and there appearÂ to be a number of passengers on the top open deck.

These buses became the downfall of the Portsdown and Horndean Light Â Railway the tracks of which can be seen to the right of the photograph.

The caption on this postcard says this is a view inside St Marys Hospital Church. Does anyone know anything about it?

There appearÂ to beÂ several people behind the bus walking to the top of the hill for, perhaps, a refreshing drink in the George Inn.

This was a bright and sunny day with the sun shining from the east suggesting the picture was taken in the morning.

'¢I always find it amazing what postcard producers used to use as subjects.

There is no date for the scene here, Â but it says it is the church inside St Mary's Hospital.

No, not Venice but a gondola on Canoe lake, Southsea. Picture: Ellis Norrell Collection

My late mother gave birth to three of her five children, including me, in the hospital and IÂ never heard her speak of a church within the grounds.Â Does it still exist?Â I would like to know more ifÂ possible please.

'¢At first glance you might think this is a scene in Venice where gondolas ply their trade along the canals. But it'sÂ Canoe Lake, Southsea, in 1910. Yes, more than a century ago.Â In the foreground isÂ a sailing yacht belonging to a small boy who is out of the shot.

Many of theÂ houses in the backgroundÂ still exist although some have been demolished for modern housing.Â

'¢Mention Bosham to many people and they will tell of King Canute who tried to turn the tide.Â Â Legend has it that it was at this picturesqueÂ village between Emsworth and Chichester that the kingÂ tried in vain to turn back the incoming tide as if he had power larger than God's.

The old mill at Bosham in the 1930s. It's now home to Bosham Sailing Club.

In fact, he was telling his people that he had no secular or supernatural powers and he was like any other man.

WhereÂ the event occurred is not known but what is known is that there are many fine old buildings in the village, one being the old mill seen here and another from Barry Cox's superb collection.

By the middle of the 20th century it appears to have become derelict and remained so until the early 1950s when it was rebuilt and in 1954 became the home ofÂ Â Bosham Sailing Club which hasÂ remained thereÂ ever since.Â The club, recognised by the RYA is one of the largest in the southÂ Â with more than 1,400 members.