Water and ships have always fascinated me. I remember being taken by my Grandma to Abington Park in Northampton when I was very small, certainly preschool, and seeing the model boating lake therein. It was an uphill approach so that suddenly the whole shining water surface appeared at eye level with sundry model boats sailing about. Even after nearly 70 years that magic moment stays with me, as does the Canoe Lake at Southsea where in 1935 I saw for the first time a large steam driven model warship in action. By today's standards these models were probably very crude. One has only to look at early ship model books by Percival Marshall and the like, published in the 1930's, to realise how far we have come. But all that is in hindsight. At that time all I had was a little clockwork driven Hornby speedboat, the smallest in the range, to compete with such magnificence. At that time Southern Railways were running paddle steamers along the south coast and at the pier head of, I think, Southsea pier a beautiful model of one of them was displayed in a glass case. It was probably of the paddle steamer Southsea and I guess made by Bassett Lowke. What I would not have given to own that model! A mess of pottage does not come into it.
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