United Kingdom Hotham Park Zoo, Bognor Regis

All the pix I have are at Flickr

Ah, you had me going, I thought I'd missed something. I don't rember trikes. All the pix I have are at Flickr, witht he exception of 2 x Bognor home movies on Youtube, (you'll find them) one from early 60s and anotehr from 1976, as far as I know that is all there is.
Yes I think that is a sundial. so where was the drink fountain?... because there definielty was one.

Thanks JFK
 
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I think the drinking fountain was close to the sundial but at the edge of the path on the side closest to Hotham Park House (and therefore the public toilets). There was a temporary standpipe there last summer, so it follows that there was a water supply there for some reason.
 
Yes, that rings bells fro me. Why i care I don't know. Just another memory for me, in my quest to be, if only for a second, that 8-9 year old boy running round teh park on a hot July in 1970. And my only concern?... how was I going to make the pocket money I'd been given last as long as possible. Happy days.
 
Hotham Park Pond

Just found this postcard, never seen thsi one before. The pond, not to be confused with the boating lake. Looks late 60s early 70s. Just as I remember it.

Used to run & chase round that pond, in and out of the bushes and reeds as excited kids.
 

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Hi all, just searching for anything new, adn I see on flicker a photo I don't remember, the one with the bakers! Hothamfan I assume it's yours? Thanks for posting it!
 
Hotham Drill

Pacu said:
and a Drill; not all at the same time though.
Click to expand...

Does anyone remember when they had the Drill, its sex or what happened to it? I'm wondering if it was the same animal(a castrated male) I saw at Drusillas Garden not that far away- seems a bit coincidental that two places near each other had what was by then a very rare Monkey in the UK. The Drusillas male was one of the last to be seen in the UK for forty years or so.
 
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The bakers etc? No nothing to do with me, Alien (from this forum) takes credit for that. All i did, with his blessing, was post it to flickr. All his.
 
I have posted some photos of the zoo in the "UK - other" gallery. They're not great - scans of faded prints taken on a fairly basic camera by a rather young me - but they do give an indication of the quality of the zoo (or lack of it).


http://www.zoochat.com/722/lion-cub-hotham-park-zoo-bognor-275183/
http://www.zoochat.com/722/red-fox-hotham-park-zoo-bognor-275182/
http://www.zoochat.com/722/flamingo-castle-hotham-park-zoo-bognor-275181/
http://www.zoochat.com/722/brown-bear-hotham-park-zoo-bognor-275180/
 
Sooty's Pix

If you're rad all of thsi thread you'll know I am trying to put all the pix I can get hold of onto Flickr so taht are in one easy to see batch, for all to see.

Sooty like alien, has just given me permission to add his pix to flickr. One off pics unlike the majority that are postcards and more generally available, this sort of stuff is far more valubale and not usullay seen. Bognor was a tourist mecca and there msut be a vast amount of pics out there jsut sitting in family albums never to be seen again.

It's these I want to get, so thank you alien & sooty
 
Latest pic from 1957. This was near Humpty and the Pets' Hospital, (i think) I am sure I can see this side-on in the Humpty Postcard? Can anyone confirm this??

There was an old woman,
Who lived in a shoe;
She had so many children,
She didn't know what to do.
She gave them some broth,
Without any bread;
She whipped them all soundly,
And sent them to bed.

You're OK, you can sit back down, I've called social services, they say they're on their way...
 

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Yes, I think you are right. I believe it was opposite the Pets' Hospital, to Humpty Dumpty's right.
 
Amazing pictures, wierd to see humpty dumpty again! Does anyone remember Mother Hubbard's cupboard, I used to shut my nephew in there (he was only slightly younger than me). Don't remember any animals, just the park - and the ice house, like a brick-built igloo...
 
Mother Hubbard's cupboard?? Vaguely recall, now yo mention it, I have a picture in my mind of being enclosed within a slightly muddy hosue, could have been it. Do you rember anything else? Any memory, helps trigger mine... 40+ years ago now!

I do rememebr the badges seen in my Flickr coll. being sold at teh kiosk (by the go-kart track on a board to the left of the attendant
 
Readers of this thread may be interested to know that I have just published a book about the Hotham Park collection. It has many images that are not in circulation and getting copyright for those was certainly interesting. At the moment it is only available from Lulu Press but you can easily find it by googling 'Bognor's Zoo' Joe Mersey; it should be on Amazon in about six weeks. I have also been able to gain insights into the Zootopia period and the bear escape in a level of detail that has not been discussed here. The downside is that the book is a bit expensive; £10.99 for 55 pages but I can guarantee there will be information and images that you will not have seen before and all profits will be split between the Bognor Regis Museum and Hotham Park Heritage Trust.
 
Thank you. I hope you enjoy it. Please tell me if you do and tell me (preferably privately!) if you don't! Have raised a few pounds for the two charities already.
 
There will alwasy be a ready market for local history books, and Bognor being a holiday town, (or was) the market spreads wider than jsut the locales, so if you've got a book written around Hotham Park of old and the zoo, you've a winner.
 
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