LOOKING back regular Jill Colebrooke lent us this wonderful piece of Weymouth memorabilia.

It commemorates the visit of the Prince of Wales, Prince Edward, to the borough on July 13, 1933 to open the reconstructed harbour works and ‘associate himself with the extension of the borough boundaries’.

The 16-page official souvenir is packed with details of the events that took place during this time of celebration and also contains several photographs, including one of the prince and one of Eng-Capt FW Hamblin RN JP, who was mayor at the time.

Although the formal opening of the harbour works took place on July 13, the Beating the Bounds ceremony happened on July 8.

The programme of celebrations informs us that ‘the Borough was extended by the Dorsetshire Review Order 1933, which added 5,690 acres to the borough which previously contained only 1,317 acres and increased the population from 22,193 to 29,534’.

“School children from each Elementary School in the borough will perambulate sections of the new Borough Boundary carrying small Boundary Rods.”

The new areas added to the borough included Broadwey, Radipole, Preston and Sutton Poyntz, Upwey and Wyke Regis.

The schools involved in the perambulation included Wyke Regis, Holy Trinity Boys and Girls, Radipole, Broadwey, Upwey, Central, St John’s Preston, Melcombe Regis, St Mary’s and St Augustine’s.

Once the bounds had been walked the children had to hand the rods back to the mayor ‘for safe keeping’.

The 17 boundary rods were made of ebony with a silver ferrule on one end and a ferrule and disc carrying the borough arms on the other end.

The Prince of Wales was due to fly into the borough on July 13, but as the Dorset Daily Echo and Weymouth Dispatch of the day noted, he had to abandon his flight in Swanage and travelled the rest of the way by car.

He was met by the Lord Lieutenant the Earl of Shaftesbury and the Chief Constable Major WL Peel Yates and travelled down Chickerell Road, Westham Road, past the King’s Statue and along the Esplanade.

Once at the pier entrance, the prince was presented to the great and good of the area, including Viscount Cranborne, the county’s High Sheriff, Lieut-Colonel EP le Breton and several councillors including Coun Haile (vice chairman of the harbour committee).

According to the running order, the prince was to open the gates of the new pier and proceed down the promenade pier to the new extension, where two steamers would be moored containing 1,000 local children.

A further 1,000 youngsters were allotted positions on the pier and the lifeboat was set to cruise round the head of the pier.

After the ceremony, Prince Edward drove to the Gloucester Hotel for lunch at the head of a cavalcade of dignitaries, after which he was taken to the Rec where 2,000 schoolchildren were assembled grouped into formation of the Prince of Wales Feathers.

There, the prince was to sign a record of the ceremony before leaving the borough.