A play by a Southampton writer recently broadcast on national radio tells tales of toll booth workers on the Itchen Bridge — and even references Bitterne Park secondary school disco.
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Ali Sparkes’ radio play Tess of the Tollbooth centres around a worker stuck in a box on the bridge as the New Year looms, while everyone else seems to be going somewhere.
The idea was apparently inspired by the brief exchanges Ali would have with tollbooth staff as she drove over the bridge.
She told bitternepark.info: “I wondered whether it would be possible to get to know someone in those few seconds if you went through regularly, at the same time, and caught the same person on each occasion. Then I started to wonder if you could fall in love with someone in 15 second increments...
“The notion took a hold and I visited some of the ladies on their shift and got some amazing stories from them, many of which made it into the play.”
Ali said that while her novels have occasionally mentioned her home city in passing, none have done so as specifically as in Tess of the Tollbooth.
Not only is it set on the Itchen Bridge, but Bitterne Park school disco even gets a brief mention — which Ali recalled from personal experience.
Bitterne Park School taken in 2015 - as it was before the new buildings
“I remember the Bitterne Park Secondary School discos very well. Particularly what I wore. This was in the late 70s when boob tubes were all the rage and I remember I had a black, glittery boob tube and black velvet jeans, a pale cream satin over-shirt with the sleeves rolled up the elbows and a thin red glitter belt around my waist, and strappy black sandals on my feet. I was thrilled with the look. Not that it got any attention at all as far as I ever knew. I was not a cool girl and got no offers to dance. I styled it out, though.”
Ali said she still misses the ladies of the toll booths as she waves her card at the machine.
You can hear Tess of the Tollbooth on BBC Sounds.
Previously
Bitterne Parker: Ali Sparkes