Hampshire Heritage's recent feature on the Ditches in Southampton - or Canal Walk, to give the area its proper name - has stirred up nostalgic memories for many Daily Echo readers.

Derek Russell, of Raymond Road, Shirley, can recall many of the names of businesses that once made up the Ditches.

"My father had a fish and chip shop in Canal Walk until it was burnt down in the blitz. It was situated opposite Rose and Rogers, the butcher's,'' says Derek.

"Further down was Tommy White's restaurant, which relocated to Queens Terrace, where it was the dockers favourite. You queued up to get in, you ate up, paid up and left. No lingering!

"My main memories of my dad's fish and chip shop was being taken to Central School in the front basket of the delivery bike, and witnessing the day the Rabbi came to dispatch the chickens in the time-honoured way.

"My wife, Jean, nee Hallett, always tells the story of when her mother took her shopping one day and was urged to 'Come in and pop it on' - the item in question being an overcoat.

"The shop owner placed her in front of a mirror and said how well the coat fitted her. Her daughter, with the innocence of a child, said:

'Mummy, why is the lady holding the back of the coat in?'"

In 1952, at the age of 16, Ray Green of Kipling Road, Eastleigh was a page boy at the Dolphin Hotel in Southampton's High Street.

"That was when Southampton had ships of every colour and size. How well I recall the senior officers staying at the hotel when they berthed at Southampton.

"When I married in 1956, I visited Stanley and Co in the Ditches to make sure that my family was planned and not unscheduled.

"I also recall being in the area to the rear of the Ditches when my highlyprized motor car blew a gasket.

"I parked the vehicle on some waste land next to the Ditches and retrieved my toolbox from the back of the car. (There was no boot on my 1934 Y model Ford.)

"I stripped out the old gasket, replaced it with a new one and got the car going again to drive home to Totton, where I lived at that time.''

Dick Leamon, of Avon Road, Midanbury, left school at the age of 14 in 1938. His first job was working at Matchams the ironmonger's in the Ditches.

"Matchams, situated next to the Horse and Groom pub, sold so many things - paints, fishing tackle, tools and every kind of hardware item you can imagine.

"The Ditches was a thriving, bustling part of the town. Late night shopping isn't anything new. At Matchams, the staff worked from 9am to 6.30pm four days a week and 9am to 8pm on Fridays. On Saturdays our hours were 9am to 9pm.

"My weekly wage was a princely sum of 12s 6d (62p). I gave my mother 10s (50p) from this leaving me with 2s 6d (12p).

"Some of my money was spent on going to the cinema in East Street, which I think was called The Standard.''