“…Flashes of Beauty…” – Johannes C. Andersen

“Christchurch was a-shaping; improvements were taking place everywhere – yet how wild and uncared-for the streets and riverbanks appear to modern eyes!  Without doubt there were many waste places; but even then ‘there were gardens bright’ with Avon’s ‘sinuous rills…enfolding sunny spots of greenery.’  She showed flashes of beauty in her unkemptness , did Christchurch; …

He Smiled Affably – Johannes C. Andersen

“Mr [Arthur Dudley] Dobson (pictured) was a familiar figure in the streets of Christchurch till well on into my years and days.  I often met him coming along Chancery Lane or Gloucester Street.  He wore a roomy grey top-hat, and usually held a key at the end of a piece of red tape in his …