AS Poole celebrates its new Twin Sails Bridge, we look back with residents who remember the opening of the old Poole Bridge in 1927.

Elderly residents have fond memories of the day the “modern” lifting bridge was opened 85 years ago, when as children, they were given the day off school.

And that third bridge to span the channel between Poole and Hamworthy was the first that was free to cross. Both the wooden 1837 bridge between Poole and Hamworthy which lasted until 1885, and its replacement iron girder swing bridge were toll bridges.

The sturdy third bridge, designed and built by the Cleveland Bridge and Engineering Company and costing £33,951, was greeted with a carnival atmosphere in the town when it opened.

Schools were shut for the day and shops closed early so that everyone could play their part.

The local newspaper reported that more than 1,000 people gathered to see the Excel sail under the bridge, “amid deafening cheers, hooting of sirens and firing rockets”.

The fourth structure, the Twin Sails Bridge, the centre-piece of the town’s regeneration and costing around £37m for the entire project, has its official celebration on the 85th anniversary of the workhorse it is now alongside.

102-year-old Dora walks on Twin Sails Bridge 85-years after attending the Poole Bridge opening

The 102-year-old matriarch of the Rigler family stepped out in style to walk across the Twin Sails Bridge, nearly 85-years after attending the opening of Poole Bridge.

Dora Heckford was one of 24 children of John Rigler, Sheriff of Poole when Poole Bridge opened in 1927. The master builder struck an impressive figure in his robes and Dora, then 19, recalls the ceremony of the day.

“There was a lot of people, considering Hamworthy was a little village,” she said. “They were all dressed up in their finery.”

She and her brother Robert, 94, are the last remaining children of the man whose memory lives on in Rigler Road – the road linking the bridge to Blandford Road.

Dora is one of 13 children of her father’s second wife, the majority of whom were sons. Seven brothers went to war and returned and the sons, who all learnt different building trades, were responsible for many of the homes in growing Hamworthy and Poole.

Determined to walk from Poole to Hamworthy, that is exactly what Dora did. Pushing aside her wheelchair, accompanied by six generations of her family including the youngest, 10-month old Aidan.

But unsurprisingly with such a strong family association she admitted to preferring the old Poole Bridge.

'I'm one of the few people still alive who can remember crossing Poole Bridge'

“It was an absolute scrum. It’s always stuck in my mind,” said 90-year-old Kath Barrington.

“I was six. I can remember going over with my mother pushing a pram, which would have had my sister, Iris in, with my brother holding on the other side,” she said.

“Everyone from Poole was trying to get over the bridge and everyone from Hamworthy was coming the other way.”

Her father worked at Carter’s pottery and knew people at Hamworthy. “I can’t remember whether we went to see them or met them half-way.”

She recalled: “There was such a lot of people all going over there at the same time. It was a big event.”

Miss Barrington remembers her father and other workers at the pottery, taking their bicycles across the quay on the ferry, so they could cycle to work at Hamworthy.

Everyone was very pleased when the bridge was built, she said and having seen the Twin Sails Bridge, she thought it looked "marvellous".

“People say I can’t possibly remember it, but I do. I’m probably one of the few people still alive that do remember it,” she added.

'I walked across Twin Sails Bridge in grandfather's memory'

Poole Sheriff, Cllr Carol Evans dedicated her first walk across the new Twin Sails Bridge, in honour of her grandfather, Fred Trevett.

“My grandfather walked across the new bridge in 1927 with the civic party,” she said. “He played football for Poole Town.

“It’s been a long ambition of mine to be able to walk across the bridge in his memory.”

Born in 1905, he married Florrie Gillett in 1927 and Carol’s mother Doreen was born two years later at the Mansion House, where they rented a room.

“My Grandad was a well known figure within the town, working at Sherry & Haycock wood merchants for most of his working life.

“Although he was blinded in his right eye by a football lace as a youth, it didn’t stop him playing a mean game of darts and billiards.”

He had a certificate to record the opening of the then “new bridge” but it was lost after his death in 1991 aged 86.

'School was closed on day of Poole Bridge opening'

Lesley Cobb celebrated his ninth birthday with a visit to see Poole Bridge being officially opened.

“I was nine years old that day. I went with my mum. Not my dad, he was at work,” he recalled. “The school was closed that day.”

He was the oldest of seven children and the family lived close by the bridge, at the end of Blandford Road. One of his friends was Bob Rigler, brother of Dora Heckford.

“For a long time there was a special boat for the workers. They went across by boat to the other side,” he said.

He remembers the day of the grand opening being fine weather and the Mayor, Cllr Herbert Carter and the councillors dressed in their robes.

His working life was spent at Carters Tiles and later Sydenham’s, right next to the lifting bridge, which he has seen in action so many times.

There was no party on his ninth birthday. “We couldn’t afford it.” But his family aimed to ensure there was a suitable celebration for his 94th birthday.