Now That’s What I Call Bournemouth covers the sixties, seventies and the eighties an era in the town I know well having been born in the sixties and growing up in the town of Bournemouth. In that time, I have seen many changes in the town some for the good and some well not so good, and whilst research and writing this book it became journey into my childhood. Bringing back many memories of going down to the beach on the trolleybuses and then going down to Bournemouth Pier and been taken shopping by my mum and dad for my school uniform.  I can clearly remember the trolleybuses travelling around the town and that infamous day in 1969 when the last trolleybus ran its last journey within the town. Within the book I have tried to capture a part of the towns history by including many unique images of the trolleybuses travelling around the town just showing what it must have been like to board a trolleybus and travel around the town. But the public transport around the borough of Bournemouth was soon to change with the disappearance of the trolleybuses and those routes taken over by diesel buses and once more my trip home from school was to change.

An aerial view of Bournemouth Pier in the 1970s, looking at the beach on a busy summer’s day. You can see the Pier Approach flyover has been built, and if you look up Exeter Road you can also see that some of the hotels have been demolished and the area is a car park. (Now That's What I Call Bournemouth, Amberley Publishing)

Then there’s the many miles of golden sand and the two piers, places where many memories were made and as a child I was taken down onto the end of the pier watching the fishermen trying to catch their tea and of course the paddle steamers like the Embassy and the Waverly would my regular visits to the town and berth alongside the pier, now adays the paddle steamer Waverley makes an occasional visit to the town. The town has witnessed many changes with the re-build of the pier in the late 1970’s and as the arial pictures in the book shows great areas of the town (supposedly all run down) were cleared away to make way for the building of the BIC a centre for conferences and a venue for entertainment. All major three political parties descending onto the town along with attracting many famous entertainers into the town but also the BIC was to contribute towards the closure of one of the great theatres in the town, the Winter Gardens. Then there was the great fire of 1976 in the bus station down Exter Road and was later demolished to make way for a car park which has now been replaced by the BH2 building. All of these are depicted within the book.

Andrews: Austin Sales and Services, Nos 77–90 Holdenhurst Road, in the early 1960s. (Image courtesy of the Sunset Garage collection) (Now That's What I Call Bournemouth, Amberley Publishing)

But there is one area of the town that has not changed greatly and that is the Victorian Gardens a great asset of the town, it has seen the coming and going of attractions like the Bournemouth eye that use to take visitors 500 feet into the area in a tethered balloon. The gardens are and were a meeting place, a place to contemplate, a place as a child we would go and sail our little boats in the Bourne stream outside the bandstand, not that we can do this today, health and safety rules. A place where you can go and play crazy golf or light the candles on the festival of lights. The bandstand has seen many interesting and wonderful concerts, were as a child I played in the in the school orchestra entertaining the residence and visitors on a sunny day, when all the deckchairs were lined up ready for the visitors or residence to sit down and take in the atmosphere and be entertained. From the gardens you can get to any part of the town and into the square which over the years has seen many changes and redevelopments and eventually into a pedestrian area were the residence and visitors can move around the town.

This book hopefully has prompted the memories of many like me that have either visited the town or grown up like me in the town a time when things appeared much easier, interesting and a less complicated time.

Now That's What I Call Bournemouth by John Needham is available for purchase now.