THE launch of the Christchurch Times marked a historic return for the paper and for one resident it provided a special emotional moment.

When Shirley Head received her copy of the newspaper through her letterbox on Thursday it brought back memories from years gone by.

Shirley said: “When I got the copy of the Christchurch Times and saw the heading just as it always used to be I had tears running down my face.”

Shirley, 83, has lived in the town for all but two years of her life.

“I’m born and bred here in Christchurch as my parents and grandparents were,” she added.

During her working life Shirley was a secretary at aircraft manufacturer de Havilland after working at a solicitors office in the Boscombe.

She remains a member of the Christchurch Aviation Society who meet regularly with guest speakers.

Shirley recalls the first time she went to de Havilland’s after applying for a job at the firm’s Christchurch branch.

“The role was to be secretary to the chief engineer. I had to go see the chief draftsman. He looked me down over his glasses and says ‘you’re a bit young’, I was 19, ‘but you’ve got the job’ – and that’s how I started there.”

Although most of her work took an administrative role, Shirley never turned down the opportunity to get involved.

“I went up in the old plane called the ambassador. They were doing some testing on it and somehow I got a ride in it, but it didn’t have any seats so I had to sit on a box.”

In the truest sense of the phrase, Shirley and her family are Christchurch through and through.

Her memory recalls childhood trips to local shops and to a family-run business in the heart of Christchurch.

“My grandfather, Charles Preston, and my great uncle, George, had a tailors premises and my dad used to take me to see them. They used to sit cross-legged because that’s how tailors worked in those days.”

“Manchester House, which is now Barclays bank, used to be a drapers and I would go in there with my mum when she wanted something to do with her sewing and they would sit me up on the big chair.”

Alongside his work as a tailor, Shirley’s great uncle was captain of the Priory bell ringers and she shared a touching memory. She said: “When I was a teenager he said he would ring the bells when I got married, which he did at my wedding in March 1956.

“We just had time to show him the pictures before he died so it was the last time he rang the bells.”

As well as having a father, Reginald, who worked at a carpenter in the area, Shirley’s great-grandfather Andrew Cox was the last miller at Place Mill.

Her knowledge of the area boasts rich details including the old offices for the Christchurch Times.

“I remember the old shop that sold coffee and the fish shop that had fresh fish out on brick slabs, not in fridges.

“The Times used to have an office over the Fountain Hotel in Christchurch and I went to school with the girl whose parents kept the hotel.

“The old lamps that are outside are the one’s that I remember being on as gas lamp in the winter.

“There’s not many places left like that and Christchurch is just such a beautiful area.”