Frank Southwell

I was a Greengrocer's boy on Bevois Road in the 1920’s and we used to get a penny on a Friday which was my pocket money. I remember the veg man who used to deliver the fruit and veg to a neighbours house and we as kids used to look at the fruit and wish we could have some.

I also used to follow the horses and carriages collecting the horse poo as you used to be able to sell it for Tuppence for two buckets!

I used to live in Shirley before the days of fridges, so the ice delivery men used to come around with the blocks of ice. We as kids used to collect the chipped-off ice and eat it like lollies! We also used to go to the grounds where the Fair had been to see if there was any money on the ground but we never found any!

One of the best things about Southampton in those times was the Theatre and Cinema, it was cheap, not like it is now.

I joined the Navy before WW2 and was posted to the Pacific as a Gunner on the HMS Kashmir. I was lucky to make it through the war without a scratch but when I left the Navy in 1946 to work at the Town Quay as a butcher I lost the top of my finger!

Many thanks to Frank's wife, Mrs Freda Southwell, for allowing us to celebrate Frank's life.