My late parents both grew up in Gosport - thank you (9 years on since you posted this video) but Dad was 10 in 1944 and recalled events leading up to the D Day landings - Gosport and Stokes Bay was crammed full of tanks lining the streets and Landing craft moored up along the beach at Stokes Bay. He recalled the generosity of the American GIs handing out sweets to the Children. There is a lot of history in what is a small town. Thank You and may those troops that never returned rest in peace
This used to be the most amazing place for a kid to grow up when it was owned by the Navy. I just remember the space and freedom and had the best childhood. My mum used to teach swimming with the Gosport Dolphins just round the corner at the pool on Howe road.
Thanks Dan, this is great there is a record of it before it was pulled down. We lived at 19 Mantle Close for a couple of years in around 80-82, we used to play on that big hill with cardboard, go through that hole past the shops packet of crisps or sweets if we were lucky. I was about 7-8, brother 5 and sister 10. There was a witches hat playground near our house. I was in I think Mrs Mace’s class at the school. She was a terror. I checked it out on Google Street View a few years ago and it had a family of no hopers sitting out in lawn chairs flipping off the google car. Got bad with drugs etc in later years apparently. It was nice when we were there though. My parents made friends there (Dad was a shipwright,) and we are still in touch with two families from the estate, the McNeilages from Scotland and the Whitfield’s from South Shields, where Dad is from. We moved over to Australia and are in Queensland now. How old were you when you lived there? And what years? Adam
I used to live in rowner 1976,m remember running up.and down that ramp at the shops. Live in dundee now but been back two or three times to portsmouth since, once even last week to get the ferry to santander. Never went back to rowner tho. Good to see but sad aswell to see the state of the place
What ??? Bridge over Nimrod was there for 5+years before 1977 (Silver Jubilee) No barriers to deter skateboarding .. also down the ramp outside your mate's chippy. Raised in Court 1 .. a row of 7 houses assigned to MOD police .. just a stone's throw from the "big hill", just behind the garage on Grange Road
Me too. I lived in Court 1 in the '70s. Have been trying to piece together my childhood memories for a while now. Went back for a nostalgia trip a few years ago but was too late. The demolition had already happened. I remember the garage (used to buy "traffic light" lollipops and get fags for my Dad when you could still do that kind of thing as a kid!), the big hill which merged halfway down into a grass embankment, the nearby right angle pedestrian bridge to one of the blocks of flats which was used for skateboards and go-carts. My Dad used to send me to the newsagent by the NAAFI each Sunday to collect the papers and get a "10p mixture". Went to Siskin primary school (teachers were Mrs Taswell and Mrs Tipple I think). Someone else in the comments mentioned the wide open spaces. I remember that too. There were very tall swings that would be considered too dangerous by today's standards. Between Court 1 and the NAAFI were large concrete cylindrical structures for hiding in and a brick "castle". Court 1 itself had a number of grassy hillocks within it and a small playground to the side. I remember also during the summer the main Siskin school was open for arts and crafts so I spent a lot of time there or in the sandpit! I wish I had more photos and/or video from that time.
I was proud of Rowner I live here always have done and what it is now is disgraceful ugly horrible modern rubbish. I miss the concrete jungle and the whole estate every single day
Wow, I lived on the Rowner estate for a year 1973, I was seven and remember the chip shop well also a burned out lift downstairs to the left of it, this is the first time I've seen the place since. Would Dave have been the shop owner in 73?
