Lee-On-The-Solent

Swimming Pool 1965

I have very fond memories of the childrens pool in Lee-on-the-Solent where I used to live between 1960 to 1966.  Many summer days were spent at the pool which was located adjacent to the beach. I remember I learned to swim here, I remember the snack bar and all the fun my friends & I had here. My fondest memories are of my time here, in late october 1966 we emigrated to Canada (30 miles west of Toronto where I still live).  I was 11 years old then, I am now 53 and I still dream of this place.  To return to Lee-on-the Solent for a summer holiday is one of my wishes that I would like to make come true. ...read more here
Contributed by rosemary White

The Tower & The Blue Bird Cafe

I remember the Tower Cinema in the late 1940s, the Saturday afternoon kids' show. Later in the early 1950s I went three times a week, as there were three programes each week, Monday to Wednesday then Thursday to Saturday and old films on a Sunday. We did not have a TV until the mid 1950s. Once I had left school I went to the Tower Ballroom on a Saturday night and to Bert Sharp, also once a month on a Thursday there would be a special dance with Art & The Band Wagoners, this band did all the American air bases and played all the latest music and featured the song that was top of the hit parade. The one I ...read more here
Contributed by Bob Davis

Lee Tower

The Tower also had a bowling alley and the restaurant was a Chinese.  As a teenager I worked up enough courage to ask a girl for my first dance at the Tower's ballroom.  We used to park our motorbikes outside the "Bluebird Cafe" opposite and had the odd pint of scrumpy cider for Dutch courage.  I was very sad to see the Tower demolished as it had everything a teenager needed for a good night out.
Contributed by gordon brown

Lee Tower Ballroom

Interesting seeing the comment about Lee Tower Ballroom, I also have many memories as my Dad played in the Tower Band. The band was Bert Sharps Band and my Dad was Harry Weston, Tenor Sax and Clarinet. If my memory serves me well, the drummer was an ex-Marine bandsman called "Nobby" who I sometimes sat with as a lad, pianist  was Jack Grist and trumpet was Danny Deveraux whose son by a great coincidence, I served in the army with in 1963.
Contributed by Tony Weston

Music at The Lee Tower

My Dad also played with Bert Sharp at the Tower Ballroom. He was Ron Eames and played the drums, this would have been in the 50's as my parents were living at Fareham at the time and they would cycle to Lee as my Dad kept his drums at the tower. Bert Sharp played the double bass and then carried on playing with my dad for many years to come ( approx 25 years) and the band was called The Phil Douglas Band.
Contributed by Helen Morey

the dancing years

stationed at hms. ariel (radio school attached to hms daedalus)in 1953 went dancing in the Tower ballroom every wednesday night...wonderful place! met my wife there ! at that time she lived at sarisbury green and had to leave the dance early to catch the local bus connection.to sarisbury green via titchfield I used to wonder where she vanished to!! took weeks before I could eventually see her home....
Contributed by Robert Andrew

Lee Tower ballroom

My Dad was also in the Phil Douglas Band that played at the Tower Ballroom. His name was Les Campbell and he played the accordion. He and Ron played together for a great number of years. I remember being at one of the band do`s and running into one of the big pillars and knocking myself out. Didn't get any sympathy from Mum, she said "Thats what you get for fooling about".
Contributed by leslie campbell

Tower Cinema

I was born in Lee-on-the-Solent and so was quite young when I first went to the cinema. I loved going down the sloping floor to the auditorium. It was almost underground, although we went up steps at the end of the slope. Every Saturday afternoon saw us queuing to get in. The only film I can remember seeing though was a war film after the V E Day street party. My eldest brother was so disgusted (he was all of 9) that he made us come out before it was finished! We had been let in free too! All I can recall of that film was Japanese soldiers and motorcycles!
Even when we moved ...read more here
Contributed by Gaynor Boyd

Up the Tower

I went up the Tower sometime in the '50s I think. I paid all of sixpence at the little kiosk just inside the entrance. A lift whisked us up to the top. I am so glad now that I did as I have a wonderful memory of the view from the top. It was a beautiful day so you could see for miles. What an attraction it would be today.
Contributed by Gaynor Boyd

Lee Pool

Although I used to take my two children to the pool from Stubbington when we lived there in the 1960s my memory is of the 1940s when it was an adult pool with a high diving board.  
A swimming gala was put on by the Navy and we sat on the bank facing the sea.  At one point a uniformed Navy chap stood on the end of the diving board and made some sort of announcement.  To my horror he suddenly pitched forward and fell into the pool!  Whether it was part of the entertainment or not I never found out and wasn't really old enough to appreciate it if that was the case.  I thought he was drowning. In ...read more here
Contributed by Gaynor Boyd

Change of use

I can't remember when Pier Hotel ceased to be an hotel but in 1965 it was already a Residential Care Home run by Hampshire social Services.
When we moved from Stubbington to Lee in 1977 I went to work in Pier House and stayed for 20 years retiring in 1997.
The site hasn't changed much although it had many alterations to the inside over the 20 years I worked there.
Contributed by Gaynor Boyd