Eddie Wickham.

A day for an adventure...

Eddie Wickham’s earliest memory is from when he and his pals would ride off on their bikes for adventures on Boscombe beach.
Mr Wickham, now 83, remembers how his mother would pack him off for the day with a snack box and how he and his friends, who wouldn’t have been older than 12, would ride off on the bikes that they had made themselves.
He says about his bike, ‘it was my pride and joy, I used any spare parts I could find to make it.’
Mr Wickham, who has lived in Boscombe his entire life, spoke of how they would ride off to the beach and leave their bikes at Boscombe pier, swim along to Bournemouth pier and then run back!
He spoke about how their adventures filled their weekends and spare time and they enjoyed the freedom of being by the sea.
Mr Wickham, who still lives in the house he was born in said, it only took a few minutes to get to the beach and spoke about how they would be gone out on their adventures all day and his mother need not worry.
He remembers there were swarms of tourists every weekend but him and his pals left their bikes over a mile away whilst they swam along with no worry at all.
Mr Wickham brought up his four children with his wife Maureen in Boscombe to, giving them the same opportunities to play on the beach as he did in his childhood.
His daughter Linda Wickham, loves the lifestyle so much, she has chosen to work as a lecturer at Bournemouth University.