NOSTALGIA: Are you related to those lost in harbour wartime tug disaster?
David has asked me to mention a former manager of the Essoldo in Southsea. She was Veronica Ward who managed the cinema in the late 1960s/early 1970s. If Veronica is still in the city please contact David on [email protected].
On the subject of past cinemas, if you have an interest you must try to get your hands on a DVD made by Peter Flint.
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Hide AdIt is a 45-minute film all about the great cinemas that once existed in the city. Much of the film has been taken inside those that remain in whatever guise they may be now.
To obtain copies at £7 including postage and packing, text 07544 958 505 or e-mail  [email protected].
The film includes more than a dozen of the former picture houses that people used to flock to in the days before television and it will bring back many memories for you.
'¢I wonder if any readers might be related to one of the eight men who were lost in Langstone Harbour on May 8, 1941?
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Hide AdThe tug Irishman of 1929 vintage was towing a crane barge when she ran into a parachute mine. Both vessels were lost with all hands. The wrecks, or what is left of them, are now marked by a sighting post in the harbour at Sword Sands.
Five of those lost on the tug were the master Clement Young, along with Robert Alderton, Colin Duke, Albert Lofting and Harry Underdown. The bargemen's names are unknown.
'¢In the picture of Palmerston Road, Southsea, all the buildings you see were destroyed on January 10, 1941. What remained was later flattened by demolition men.
It shows the north side of Palmerston Road in Edwardian days with St Jude's Church spire poking over the rooftops. Although it looks like it has been raining the water came from a water cart that kept the street clean and dust free. The road is now pedestrianised.
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Hide Ad'¢Another one from the collection of Robert James is the shot of the naval war memorial on Southsea Common.
I believe it was taken on the occasion of the memorial's unveiling on October 15,1924, commemorating the 10,000 sailors who lost their lives during the First World War and who had no known grave. The names of 15,000 sailors from the Second World War were added on an extension on the common side of the memorial in 1953.
Wouldn't it be lovely if something like this was recreated this coming Remembrance Sunday, marking the centenary of the end of the First World War.