1975: The Shell House, Southbourne, Bournemouth

The boys visit the Shell House, a short walk around the corner from home, and have a look at all its sparkling wonders. The Shell House was an ordinary house on Southbourne Overcliff, but the owner had transformed the front garden into a children's delight of grottoes, curios, made from millions of shells and pieces of shiny glass and pottery set into cement. This open garden featured wishing wells, model buildings and seats and benches, all with the aim of collecting money for charity. It was extremely successful, and the owner was well known for some very large charitable donations, until the late 1980s, when vandalism saw it fall into disrepair, before it closed in the early 2000s and was turned into yet another miserable block of clifftop flats, bearing only the name "The Shell House" to hint at what once used to brighten up many a child's day.

Technical info:
Shot by Dr Stanley Solomons on Kodak Super 8 film,
using a Eumig Mini 5 camera.
Digital transfer by on8mil in London
Post production in Adobe Premier Pro by Burl Solomons
Copyright © Burl Solomons 2019