When you could buy your dream Portsmouth home for less than £3 a week '“ Nostalgia

Of course wages were very different back then, but it still appears to have been manageable for a young couple.

These semi-detached houses came with large gardens and all mod-cons of the time.

Imagine moving from a terraced house in the city with a scullery and outside toilet to a modern house with a fitted kitchen? It must have been marvellous.

I looked on the internet and these houses are now going for a third of a million pounds and counting.

How on earth anyone starting out today can even think about buying these days is beyond me.

'¢ Seen looking towards Cosham in pre-electrification days  is Portchester railway station.

It looks a little ramshackle and not a million miles away from Buggleskelly, the station in Will Hay's film Oh! Mr Porter.

There are plenty of staff on duty on the up platform along with linemen on the track'¦ and not a hi-vis jacket among them.

Oddly enough. there does not appear to be a look-out man to protect them from oncoming trains. Perhaps he is out of shot.

On the left can be steel boards with adverts which were the norm for the day. They are promoting Lux soap and Wright's coal tar soap. Perhaps it was a hint about passengers' hygiene.

'¢ I wonder how many of you can remember attending this comedy at the Kings Theatre , Southsea, in 1975.

As can be seen, Brian Rix of Whitehall Farce fame appeared in the starring roll along with Scottish comedian Jimmy Logan.

The theatre was at the time under control of Commander RB Cooper who I am told saved the theatre from closing.

James Gardener, of Bedhampton, has allowed me to borrow a box of programmes from over the years and I shall include some of them in these pages from time to time.

'¢ Finally today, here's another picture from Captain Gordon Walwyn's collection from the 1977 Silver Jubilee Fleet Review. It's the Trinity House vessel THV Patricia passing the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal.

It was down to the Patricia to precede the royal yacht Britannia through the lines of ships awaiting the royal inspection.

Out of shot on the right would be Britannia, HMS Birmingham and RFA Engadine which was used by the world's media.