12th February 2002 - Roy Underdown Pavilion

The picture on the screen seemed familiar. It looked like Hamble foreshore, 
but some of the buildings were different and where was the quay wall?  
Well, it wasn't there when the photograph was taken, in 1910!  

A capacity audience saw many pictures of the era, as Ian Underdown took us up river from Hamble Point to Botley Mill. We visited Warsash and Hamble with their 'hards' for crossing the river mud, and ponds & boxes for storing shell fish, TS Mercury and its shoreside facility, then up to Bursledon and Lower Swanwick, and the wooden toll bridge which linked them.  There were pictures of Bursledon Regatta with fleets of decorated boats and up past the Brickworks and the remains of the Grace Dieu, which was built for Henry V.  On again to Botley Mill, where they were loading flour into barges.  Oh, and a short diversion to Curbridge with its inviting-looking pub. A pictorial feast of a journey!

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