Christchurch: Quay and Church Street


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Christchurch: Quay and Church Street

This page follows Christchurch: Convent Walk, priory and grounds. I took most of the photos here in 2020, but I have included one from 2018 and some from 1996.

Boat moored in the quay with middle part of Hengistbury Head across the harbour,  in Christchurch Dorset, England, in May 2020

Boat moored in the quay with middle part of Hengistbury Head across the harbour in May 2020


Ferry alongside the quay, Christchurch, Dorset, England, in July 2020

Ferry alongside the quay in July 2020

In about 1994, the crew of this boat (or one like it) and I lifted my mother in her wheelchair from the quayside into the boat. Although she was unable to speak properly, I could tell that she enjoyed the trip down the harbour. We lifted her out in similar fashion onto the jetty by the café at the Mudeford sandbank. I wheeled her back to the nursing home via Hengistbury Head.

Ferry reverses out into the quay, Christchurch, Dorset, England, in July 2020

The ferry reverses out


Boats in the quay at Christchurch, Dorset, England in June 2020

Boats in the quay in June

I took this photo in June from about the same place as the preceding photo, but turned to the right.

Quay at Christchurch, Dorset, England in July 2020

Panning to the right in July…


Walking on the quay in early 1963

Walking on the quay — literally — in early 1963

We still lived in London in 1963 and my grandparents had only just moved to Christchurch. I do not know that we had visited them there yet. This is a still from BBC digitized film showing people walking on the iced-over quay. (See under External link later on this page for the video.) To read about how we were saved by a London bus driver during that appalling winter, see London in About the author.


Old Mill Tea Rooms at the quay, Christchurch, Dorset, England,  in 1996

Old Mill Tea Rooms at the quay late last century (1996)

Like the Oasis Cafe pictured on an earlier page, I sat outside Old Mill Tea Rooms with my old mum on several occasions. At the time of writing (summer 2020) it is still operating, but with ‘social distancing’ markers because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Christchurch Sailing Club in October 2020

Christchurch Sailing Club in October 2020

View from the marina housing, the quay, Christchurch, Dorset,

View from the marina housing in October 2020

Marina and surrounding housing , the quay, Christchurch

Marina and surrounding housing in October 2020


Buzz Aldrin in Christchurch, Dorset, England in 2020

Buzz Aldrin

Even astronauts retire here.


Swans at the quay, Christchurch, Dorset

Swans at the quay in October 2020

Black swan (I assume) at the quay, Christchurch, Dorset

Black swan (I assume)


Faina Anatomical Doll in 2018

Faina and swans by the yacht club at the quay in 2018

See also Faina at the quay.

Swan at Christchurch quay, Dorset, England,

Swan at the quay in October 2020

Houses at the quay, Christchurch, Dorset, England, in June 2020

Houses at the quay in June 2020

Away from the quay in Christchurch Dorset, England, in May 2020

Away from the quay. The hump in the road looks like a bridge, but it is just a hump. May 2020.


Dinosaur in the Red House Museum garden, Christchurch Dorset, England, in July 2020

Dinosaur in the Red House Museum garden in July 2020

I previously imagined the dinosaurs all existed at about the same time before going extinct suddenly 65 million years ago. Not so — according to what I heard on a BBC Radio 4 science program. By the time of Tyrannosaurus rex, the huge brontosaurus had been extinct for so long that it was already just a fossil (collectively). Tyrannosaurus rex is closer in time to the iPhone than to the brontosaurus.
😯

T. Rex

T. Rex, April 2021

Dinosaurs in the Red House Museum garden, Christchurch Dorset, England,

More dinosaurs

What do you call a one-eyed dinosaur? A dyathinkysaurus.
😀

Reflections in Soho cafe windows

Reflections in Soho cafe windows in Church Street

Church Street, Christchurch, Dorset, England, in May 2020

Church Street in May 2020


Around the curve in the preceding photo — and a quarter century back in time…

Roberts shop, Church Street, Christchurch, Dorset, England,  in 1996

Roberts, Church Street, in 1996

When I was a youngster Robert’s was one of four or five shops in Christchurch that sold plastic model kits. In 2020 it is either another realtor (estate agent), travel agent, or ladies’ clothes shop (I forget which).


Roberta ladies' clothing store, Church Street, Christchurch, Dorset, England,  in 1996

Roberta, Church Street, in 1996

Raisa Anatomical Doll in a black dress and carrying an AK-47

Raisa in a dress from Roberta in 2014

On the end of the row — the north end of Church St — was Roberts’ almost-namesake Roberta. When I went past that window with my mother in her wheelchair, we always stopped to laugh at the outrageous price labels. I never imagined that one day I would buy a dress in that shop while being filmed for a documentary about life-size dolls. (See War to end all wars part 2 for this photo in context.)


Tom's Cafe, Christchurch, Dorset, England, in May 2020

Tom’s Cafe on the corner of Church Street and Bridge Street in May 2020

Roberta relocated to Bournemouth in 2019 to be replaced by Tom’s, which soon closed…

No. 1 Church St., Christchurch, Dorset, UK, in October 2020

No. 1

…to re-open in October as No. 1.


Although this photo appears on an earlier page, it is repeated here for completeness. Looking to the left from the same camera position as the preceding photo, again late last century…

High Street looking north from Church Street, Christchurch, Dorset, England,  in 1996

High Street looking north from Church Street in 1996

The Oxfam premises are now (in 2020) occupied by a mobile phone store. Courts carpet store is now a large cafe-bar. Bookends book store, next along from Courts, had just moved from its much smaller premises in Church Street. Bookends is still in its new location.


This topic continues in Christchurch: Purewell and Somerford.

External link

The big freeze of 1963 remembered video on BBC web site from which the frozen quay screenshot is taken

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