http://canveymemories.blog.co.uk/en-UKMokoFeed10http://canveymemories.blog.co.uk/http://data5.blog.de/design/preview/0e/d2d01c42b391d926019b9c9981e7fd_160x200.jpghttp://canveymemories.blog.co.uk/2008/10/14/looking-for-someone-4867120/tag:canveymemories.blog.co.uk,2008-10-13:/2008/10/14/looking-for-someone-4867120/Tue, 14 Oct 2008 00:14:12 +0200 <p><strong>This is a message that I posted on my other blog site but as it is about canvey Island I am posting it on this Blog site<br> Message<br> This is a message for any old Canvey Islanders who can remember the following person.<br> I received this e-mail last wek from Trish Nicholls nee Pat Newman asking me to put it on my blog so I am obliging her it is as follows.</p> <p>Barbara,</p> <p>I don't know if you remember me - I was Pat Newman - I have been trying for some years to get in touch with your sister Pat for years - I lived along the road from you - St. Bernards, the first house facing into Springfield Road and Pat and I were good mates at school. I have lived in Australia since 1981 but have been back to Canvey a couple of times since then - most recently July and August this year - and both times tried to find where Pat was. If you can get a message to her so that we can get in touch I would be very grateful.</p> <p>End of e-mail.I hope she has some luck in locating her<br> Peanuts ( My nickname) </strong> </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://canveymemories.blog.co.uk/2008/10/14/looking-for-someone-4867120/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://canveymemories.blog.co.uk/2008/10/14/looking-for-someone-4867120/#commentshttp://canveymemories.blog.co.uk/2007/12/05/part~3396989/tag:canveymemories.blog.co.uk,2007-12-05:/2007/12/05/part~3396989/Wed, 05 Dec 2007 02:12:35 +0100 <p><strong>At this point I would like to thank my friends of nearly 60 years Harry and Val Court for jogging my memory on a lot of things that I had forgotten.<br> I have now come to the end of my memories of Canvey in the Fifties as a single man, my last ten years on the Island was spent working hard and establishing a home for my wife and kids so my errant roving days were over and at the age of 26 I became a responsible adult.<br> I thank all of those that had the patience and fortitude to read all of them, and I hope you had as much of a good time reading them and remembering some of the things that I have mentioned because I have had a wonderful time writing them.<br> Some people reading them might deduce that the youngsters of the fifties were a bunch of hooligans but nothing could be further from the truth, we may have upset some of the older residents with our outlandish behavior and dress sense and our flamboyant attitude but in all of us there was no malice, vindictiveness or vandalism.<br> Our only aim was to have a good time and enjoy ourselves, there were very few fights with any of the mainland and London boys that came to Canvey for a holiday because we all had the same goal, duck hunting, getting your leg over a good pissup and a good feed.<br> I myself cannot recall any of the Canvey girls being nasty or anti-social they were all nice and they looked forward to the summer months as much as us boys for the many new lads that would come down to Canvey on holiday.<br> If anywhere in these memories you find an inaccuracy I would be glad if you let me know, as one’s memory is not infallible<br> P.S. I might add a few articles of my time at Regent and about driving trucks in the 50s we will see how it goes<br> Some people say that you cannot live on memories but you can have a bloody good time recalling them.<br> Eddie</strong> </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://canveymemories.blog.co.uk/2007/12/05/part~3396989/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>part-18http://canveymemories.blog.co.uk/2007/12/05/part~3396989/#commentshttp://canveymemories.blog.co.uk/2007/12/05/part~3396986/tag:canveymemories.blog.co.uk,2007-12-05:/2007/12/05/part~3396986/Wed, 05 Dec 2007 02:09:03 +0100 <p><strong>When I came back to England for a holiday in 1996 mainly because my mother had died and I had to sort out a few problems with the rest of the family, we had a small reunion with some of the boys we grew up with. We had it at the Windjammer Pub at the bottom of May Avenue, there was Reggie, My wife and I, Nobby Gubb and his wife, Harry Court and his wife, Lennie Hooker and another married couple from Canvey (Trevor and Ces) who are friends of Harry.<br> I called in to visit Reggie and we drove over to Basildon to see Lennie and had our photo taken and in the evening we all went to the Windjammer.<br> Now Lennie, who did not look all that well when he arrived by cab, was a real piss artist but had only one beer and<br> Complained about stomach pains, he looked crook all night and before the end he said he did not feel well and was going home.<br> We called him a cab gave him the fare and told him that if he felt ill in the morning to go to the doctors, on the way home he told the cab driver to take him straight to the hospital where he was admitted and died that night.<br> Now the sad thing was the next morning after the reunion we left on a 21 day tour of Europe and did not know of Lennie’s death and of course missed his funeral. I was gutted to say the least.</strong> </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://canveymemories.blog.co.uk/2007/12/05/part~3396986/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>part-17http://canveymemories.blog.co.uk/2007/12/05/part~3396986/#commentshttp://canveymemories.blog.co.uk/2007/10/26/part~3196460/tag:canveymemories.blog.co.uk,2007-10-26:/2007/10/26/part~3196460/Fri, 26 Oct 2007 04:44:34 +0200 <p><strong>Whilst reminiscing about my enjoyable time on Canvey Island during the 50s I recalled one memorial occasion which, at the time, being young was then to me really nothing but looking back in hindsight must have been a terrifying thing for my father.<br> As I have mentioned in a previous posting we used to go down fishing and lay deadlines, bait them up when the tide was out then go back and collect the fish (if any) as the tide went out, there were usually up between 40 to 60 hooks on the lines and when it was cold it was not a pleasant job trying to push the worms onto the hooks.<br> The bait we used were rag worms which were large red multi legged worms with a pair of pincers in their head that could give you a nasty nip, these we used to dig up from around the base of the old pier supports.<br> This derelict pier was just over the sea wall opposite May Avenue and from there we used to walk out at an angle towards Chapman Lighthouse and when we were about a couple of hundred yards from the shore we would bait up our lines, these lines were left out on the mud all the time as nobody interfered with them and as we followed the tide out there was no chance for anyone to go out and steal the fish that were caught on the lines.<br> Getting back to this incident I recall. Early one morning my dad and I went down to collect any fish and bait up the lines ready for the next tide, it was very overcast with a slight mist coming in from the estuary but not enough to worry about.<br> Whilst we were concentrating on baiting up we were unaware that the mist had turned into a fog and we could only see 20 to 30 yards and when we went to go back to the shore we could not see it at all and had no idea which direction it laid.<br> What with all the tramping around the lines footprints everywhere we could not find our tracks we made coming out.<br> We started to walk one way for a while then tried another direction but we were hopelessly lost.<br> I had no idea of the danger we were in but I could sense that my dad was getting worried because if we walked towards the river there was what we called the 50 foot drop at the channel’s edge.<br> By this time there were tracks going in every direction so my dad started to shout out very loud “Can anybody hear me” time and time again but we could only hear the sound of the river which seemed to be coming from every direction and an echo of his voice.<br> After what seemed like an eternity of shouting there was a voice shouting back to us so my dad shouted back to him asking him to continue to shout so we could find our way back to shore, finally we emerged out of the fog and up onto the sea wall.<br> It was a bloke who was taking his dog for a walk and was the only one on the sea wall at that time.<br> The thing is neither my dad nor myself could swim so if that bloke was not there we could have been brown bread.<br> When you think back we were idiots for not taking safety precautions such as having a compass with us or laying out the deadlines in the shape of an arrow pointing to the shore.<br> As you get older you realize that fate decides whether you live or die, being in the wrong place at the wrong time.<br> Fear is a very funny thing, for example when I was in the army and stationed in the Canal Zone our camp was on the edge of the Great Lakes and we had to do our share of guard duties and this entailed walking around the inside of the perimeter fence all on your Jack Jones with 10 rounds of live ammunition, every now and again the Arabs (just to annoy us) would fire the odd round into the camp which would alert all the camp, upset everyone’s sleep and cause havoc.<br> And walking around the perimeter you stood out like dog’s balls against the camp lights but nobody worried about this, you just took your turn of guard duty as a run of the mill thing.<br> Looking back now it makes me wonder why we were so blasé, </strong> </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://canveymemories.blog.co.uk/2007/10/26/part~3196460/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>part-16http://canveymemories.blog.co.uk/2007/10/26/part~3196460/#commentshttp://canveymemories.blog.co.uk/2007/10/25/part~3192452/tag:canveymemories.blog.co.uk,2007-10-25:/2007/10/25/part~3192452/Thu, 25 Oct 2007 11:41:01 +0200 <p><strong>This period you could call the cream of my youth, I was single, had a car,(A black 1952 ford V8 Pilot with a lovely comfortable back seat) had one of the best driving jobs in the transport industry, plenty of money in my pocket and only my dick to keep, on top of this it was during (What I consider) to be the greatest decade of the twentieth century, the fifties, there was very little unemployment, not much violence in the pubs or streets, no racial problems and the rise of some of the greatest legends in the pop world.<br> There was Elvis Priestly, The Big Bopper, Paul Anka, Bill Haley and the Comets, Johnny Ray, Frankie Lane, Buddy Holly, Little Richard, Gene Vincent, Ricky Valence and more.<br> I can remember standing for hours around the juke box feeding it money and listening to all of these stars; it was sixpence a record or five for two bob. It is impossible to describe the feeling of enjoyment and euphoria standing around the juke box while this fantastic new music was belting out and when songs like "shake rattle and roll" “rock around the clock" “Heartbreak Hotel” and “Dianna” were released and they were played none stop for days<br> When we came back onto the Island after a nights drinking binge we would drive to the Unic cafe, (which was next to Taylors garage down the village )drive up onto the pavement and skid to a halt about six inches from the plate glass window, (just to scare the birds sifting by the window, as you will have guessed we were show offs and lairs) swagger into the cafe' and throw a couple of bob to the girls standing around the juke box for them to play some music and then go into the back room where we would have a game of cards (the owner did not mind this providing we would keep buying food and teas and he also liked a game of cards) we played pontoon or nine card brag at sixpence a hand and he would keep the cafe' open until we all went, sometimes this was as late as early morning.<br> Now I will say this that during all of my teenage years I never once heard any talk of drugs or knew of anyone who took them, in fact, we did not even know they existed, and I cannot recall anybody even mentioning the word suicide (in fact life was too good to even contemplate it. </strong> </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://canveymemories.blog.co.uk/2007/10/25/part~3192452/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>part-15http://canveymemories.blog.co.uk/2007/10/25/part~3192452/#commentshttp://canveymemories.blog.co.uk/2007/10/19/part~3159406/tag:canveymemories.blog.co.uk,2007-10-19:/2007/10/19/part~3159406/Fri, 19 Oct 2007 05:08:50 +0200 <p><strong>Having babies on Canvey in the fifties and sixties You might ask "What would a mere male know about having babies?.<img src="/img/smilies/icon_rolleyes.gif" alt=":roll:" class="middle" border="0">" well I will tell you. Nearly everyone had their babies at home during this era and it was the expectant dads job, when the wife said she was due, to jump on his bike and cycle around to the mid-wife's house and let her know the situation ,and you were always asked the same questions " has the water burst? how long between each contraction? Etc". Now if the mid-wife was out on another call she left the name and address of her backup nurse so off you cycled (no matter what time of the day or night it was or the weather conditions were) to find the other one and hoped and prayed that she was in.<br> The midwives I can recall that worked on Canvey were a Nurse Robson and a Nurse Consella ,one rode a bike and the other drove a Morris minor car When our first one was due Nurse Robson came and that's when she took over ,she came in the door and the first words she said in a very draconian voice to the poor nervous father to be was "Make yourself useful and get me some clean towels and plenty of boiling water "when you had done all of that and sat down she found you another task, but the midwives were very efficient and very good .I wonder just how many Canvyites can say "I had my bare bottom smacked by Nurse Consella or Nurse Robson",<img src="/img/smilies/icon_redface.gif" alt=":oops:" class="middle" border="0"><img src="/img/smilies/icon_redface.gif" alt=":oops:" class="middle" border="0"> thousands I would guess.<br> Now the in thing is all hospital deliveries to eliminate any complications but I would back the success rate of those old midwives against any hospital of today. being less clinical and more comforting.<br> My memories are inside me - they're not things or a place - I can take them anywhere.<br> </strong> </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://canveymemories.blog.co.uk/2007/10/19/part~3159406/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>part-14http://canveymemories.blog.co.uk/2007/10/19/part~3159406/#commentshttp://canveymemories.blog.co.uk/2007/10/19/part~3159399/tag:canveymemories.blog.co.uk,2007-10-19:/2007/10/19/part~3159399/Fri, 19 Oct 2007 05:03:41 +0200 <p><strong>The reason why we went off the Island for our clobber was because there was no decent men’s outfitters on the Island the only one being Rogers (who I think was located near Cockle Jacks) who stocked things like flannel jackets and formal shirts and catered for the conservative type of clientele so we bought our accessories in Southend and our “Whistles” from Maxie. Then a good thing happened on the Island, about the mid fifties a new men’s outfitters moved on the Island namely Alf Harley and Sons (I think they also had a shop in London) they had some good and in fashion clothes so we bought most of our gear at Alf’s, whose shop was located in Furtherwick Road between Lionel Road and Vaagen Road, (I think) but still bought our suits from Maxie. The suits used to cost 25 guineas and the Crombie overcoats 21 Guineas and considering we were earning about 7 quid a week they were very expensive. When I tell my sons and grandsons that I spent 3 and a half weeks full wages buying a suit they did not believe me and thought I was a few sandwiches short of a picnic.<br> One big difference I notice now is the style of walking, we walked with a spring in our step, backs upright,( this could have been due to our National Service training) even the odd skip and jump but the present day youth seem to drag their feet along and look towards the ground,(maybe that,s because of all the piercings they have in their heads and it's weighing them down<img src="/img/smilies/icon_rolleyes.gif" alt=":roll:" class="middle" border="0"><img src="/img/smilies/grayno.gif" alt=":no:" class="middle" border="0"> LOL) </strong> </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://canveymemories.blog.co.uk/2007/10/19/part~3159399/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>part-13http://canveymemories.blog.co.uk/2007/10/19/part~3159399/#commentshttp://canveymemories.blog.co.uk/2007/10/14/part~3132400/tag:canveymemories.blog.co.uk,2007-10-14:/2007/10/14/part~3132400/Sun, 14 Oct 2007 06:57:13 +0200 <p><strong>The fifties was the era of the Teddy Boys in which the dress was single-breasted fingertip length suit, velvet collar , drainpipe trousers, fancy shirt, bootlace tie, brightly coloured socks, and very thick soled brothel creeper shoes .Now we didn’t wear these clothes so we could gang up and kick somebody’s head in but just to stand out from the crowd and look flamboyant, looking back in retrospect we must have looked right prats ,but then again the style here now is to wear big baggy ¾ length shorts or trousers which I call "Victor Sylvester" trousers ,(plenty of ball-room) with the crutch four inches below where it should be , that look as if they have been purchased from the Salvation Army jumble sale and couldn’t find the right size , or full length jeans the bottoms of the trousers dragging along the ground where they become frayed and in wet weather they get soaking wet and wearing a baseball cap turned back to front so they all look like Jerry Lewis clones<img src="/img/smilies/icon_crazy.gif" alt=":crazy:" class="middle" border="0"><img src="/img/smilies/icon_crazy.gif" alt=":crazy:" class="middle" border="0">.We might have looked prats but at least we were smart looking ones. One thing I will say and that is us Canvey boys were always smartly dressed, The group I went with all bought our suits from Maxie Cohen “Bespoke tailor” who’s shop was beside the trolleybus terminus at Algate (by the underground station) this involved two or three fittings before you picked up the suit so we always made a day out, staying to have a few beers in that area. When we first went to Maxie and told him what we wanted i.e. single breasted, one button, velvet collar, fingertip length and drainpipe trousers he must have thought we were barmy but our money was good and we got on well with him also buying our Crombie overcoats from him too. I also think we must have been egotists because whenever we took out overcoats or jackets off we always folded them so the large Maxie Cohen label was on the outside. </strong> </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://canveymemories.blog.co.uk/2007/10/14/part~3132400/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://canveymemories.blog.co.uk/2007/10/14/part~3132400/#commentshttp://canveymemories.blog.co.uk/2007/10/14/part~3132387/tag:canveymemories.blog.co.uk,2007-10-14:/2007/10/14/part~3132387/Sun, 14 Oct 2007 06:52:58 +0200 <p><strong>MORE MEMORIES OF CANVEY IN THE FIFTIES<br> One thing I must stress is that during the Fifties even with all of the different groups of youths on the Island, and groups of Londoners coming down on holidays there was never any violence such as knives, kicking's or assaults, no graffiti or car stealing everybody enjoyed themselves and made their own recreation, maybe upsetting and annoying the then older residents but never resorting to viciousness, something which seems to be the in thing with the present day youngsters who after giving someone a kicking blame the government because they have nothing to do or nowhere to go!<br> There was always something to do on Canvey then, we used to go cockling, lay out a deadline which involved digging up the rag worms usually around the old wooden pier supports at the end of May Avenue, laying out the line as the tide came in then going back as the tide went out to collect your fish, we also made a quid out of it as we sold some of the catch to a builder Mr. Green and his wife who lived just off May Avenue. One of the lads who used to do a lot of fishing was called Lennie Carver<br> Also eeling in the small creek that ran through what is now Kismet Park I don't think I was ever bored nor had nothing to do in those days.<br> I do not know how much green open space there is now on the Island but back in those days my father, brother and myself used to go collecting mushrooms in the fields down Northwick Road, also my father bought himself some ferrets and we would spend many a happy hour chasing the rabbits that had escaped the nets.<br> Often in the summer our mum would take us kids to Benfleet by bus , we would then walk over the railway crossing opposite the Ferry Tea Rooms turn right and walk to Hadleigh Castle collecting blackberries on the way and then when we got home a lovely blackberry and apple pie was cooked<br> We used to do some silly thing such as - outside of Grooms second-hand shop which was situated opposite Holmes hardware shop stood a large tractor tyre, so one Saturday evening my mate Harry and I wheeled this huge tyre down the High Street and left it outside Venables the chemist, blocking the front door <img src="/img/smilies/icon_crazy.gif" alt=":crazy:" class="middle" border="0"><br> More to follow Eddie<br> </strong> </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://canveymemories.blog.co.uk/2007/10/14/part~3132387/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>part-11http://canveymemories.blog.co.uk/2007/10/14/part~3132387/#commentshttp://canveymemories.blog.co.uk/2007/10/08/part~3102268/tag:canveymemories.blog.co.uk,2007-10-08:/2007/10/08/part~3102268/Mon, 08 Oct 2007 11:37:57 +0200 <p><strong>MORE MEMORIES OF CANVEY IN THE FIFTIES<br> In recalling memories the past you do tend to forget about the sometimes mundane things that you had to do and only remember the good things, one of the tasks my brother and I had to do in the early fifties was as follows<br> In those early years on Canvey there were quite a few houses with no main sewer and our job was to dig a rather large hole (about 18 inches square and 4 to 5 feet deep) in which to tip the bucket when it got full, now we lived on a corner block with a lot of passing pedestrians so one of us kept a lookout whilst the other grabbed the bucket from under the seat .ran around to the garden, tipped it in and rushed back before anyone saw you and the lookout would then cover the hole up with a sheet of corrugated iron<br> When the hole was nearly full it was backfilled and a new hole dug with the old one being marked by a stick so you would not dig in the same place again. Now this system did have it's pitfalls as sometimes the stick would disappear and you would be walking on the garden when you would slowly start to sink into the earth which meant a quick leap to the side or a very smelly disaster would occur.<br> What a relief when we had the sewer connected and you could pull the chain.<br> Also I'm not too proud to say that I also wore clothes bought from the Salvation Army jumble sale (and so did hundreds of other Canvey kids in those years as the hall was always full of mums buying clothes) and I sometimes wore Shredded Wheat shoes (does anybody remember them??.)<br> My mum did a fantastic job in bringing up us five kids under difficult times in London during the blitz and on Canvey after the war, on top of this she was widowed whilst still in her early forties with two of my young sisters still at school and she still found time to foster babies from Doctor Barnardo's home.<br> They may have come bigger than my mum but they did not come better.<br> Although the Rio cinema had a Saturday morning matinee for kids most of us opted for the cinemas in Southend, either the Strand near the railway station or the Gaumont cinema up near Victoria Circus now this cinema was an old one with a "Gods"(those who don't Know what the Gods are I will explain, the ground floor of the cinema was the stalls the next two levels were the circle and the dress circle and right at the very top was the Gods) miles from the screen, the seats set very steep so those at the back could see, and to get up there you had to walk up dozens of steps, and any object dropped accidentally from it took quite a while to reach the stalls.<br> Now because it was very tiring to climb up into the Gods the usherettes very rarely came up there so we virtually had the run of the place.<br> One of our favorite tricks was to blow up a French letter to a huge size , then release it to float gently down through the beam of the film where it appeared on the screen looking like a huge zeppelin . We also filled them up with water and dropped them from the balcony<br> It is also unbelievable how much water you can get into the aforementioned item.<br> On the few occasions when we did go to the Rio Cinema very few of us paid as the following system was carried out.<br> One of our number would pay the admission fee and then go inside and sit by the side door, when the lights went out he would then creep up to the side door and give the bar a push and the other members of our group would rush in and sit down all in different places . The usherettes would come down and maybe find a couple of non-payers and eject them and the rest would enjoy the film<br> This trick was difficult to stop as, by law , the side doors must always be left unlocked during performances for safety reasons.</strong> </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://canveymemories.blog.co.uk/2007/10/08/part~3102268/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>part-10http://canveymemories.blog.co.uk/2007/10/08/part~3102268/#commentshttp://canveymemories.blog.co.uk/2007/07/16/part~2643933/tag:canveymemories.blog.co.uk,2007-07-16:/2007/07/16/part~2643933/Mon, 16 Jul 2007 11:29:56 +0200 <p><strong>Part 9 Local cafes<br> A mention must be made of the local cafes where the local youths met to pass the time, one of the most popular was Cockle Jacks being situated in the centre of the Island opposite the Haystack where most of us met to decide our destination that night. We were always welcome there even if we had no money to spend Cockle Jack’s wife Ann and her helper Kit Foster put up with us, noisy but happy just to listen to the Jukebox and chatter amongst ourselves.<br> Then there was the Commodore situated on the corner of Sea view Road and the High Street (opposite the Admiral Jellico) Owned by an Italian with, if I can recall correctly, had two good looking daughters. The front entrance in the High Street was the café and the side entrance was the fish and chip shop. I do not know a lot about this café as we rarely used it preferring the cafes nearer to the centre of the Island.<br> Wally Brown’s café at the corner of Long Road and Haven Road was the workers café and you would not find a nicer couple than Wally and his wife Sweeney’s café was another handy café situated next to Benfleet Station and backing onto the creek, a wooden building stuck on piers and an ideal place to wait for the train and having the mandatory jukebox ,the owner, a Mr. Leech, (no relation to the farmer) had a daughter who we nicknamed “Spider” because she was all arms and legs and a son called Vic, they had another café in Leather Lane London and a couple of times we went up there and helped Vic out in the café( not very successfully I might add) when his parents were away </p> <p>Then there was the Jolly Boys café at the junction of Beach Road and the High Street with Tiny Tim serving behind the counter ( I think he stood on a box to serve, only joking) and dead opposite was Green glades café which, although not having the mandatory jukebox had one very good asset namely not many patrons and an alcove in the far corner at the front of the café where the owner a Mr. Lilliard used to let us play cards “No money boys” he used to keep telling us And we would tell him we were only playing for matches but as he was rather slow moving by the time he shuffled around the corner to coerce us into buying more tea and toast the money had been replaced and little piles of matches were innocently in front of us.<br> But the best café on the Island that us boys used to use for gambling was a newer café situated in an arcade of shops that Mr. Taylor who owned the petrol station next door had built nearly opposite New Road in the Village. This café was called the Unic , now this was in the mid fifties when we had all come out of the army ,old enough to drink and drive ,now looking back in hindsight it was a very stupid thing to do but in those days there was no such thing as ?Blow in the Bag sir? or random breath tests and, being young and silly we used to go out drinking, weekends we would drive up to London and do a pub crawl round all the well known ones including The Mile End Tavern and a little one tucked in behind Aldgate bus station and sometimes over the south side of London to the World Turned Upside Down, and Joe Lucy’s pub the Thomas a Beckett , both on the Old Kent Road and The Hole in the Wall, during the summer months we stayed local either Southend or any of the mainland pubs where the coaches used to stop on the way back to London loaded up with tipsy young ladies wanting to enjoy themselves (but that’s another story)<br> When we came back onto the Island after a nights drinking binge we would drive to the Unic cafe, drive fast up onto the pavement and skid to a halt about six inches from the plate glass window, (just to scare the birds sitting by the window, as you will have guessed we were show offs and lairs) swagger into the cafe' and throw a couple of bob to the girls standing around the juke box for them to play some music ( this two bob played 5 records I think) and then go into the back room where we would have a game of cards (the owner did not mind this providing we would keep buying food and teas and he also liked a game of cards) we played pontoon three or nine card brag at sixpence a hand and he would keep the cafe' open until we all went, sometimes this was as late as 2 in the morning.<br> Oh the joys of youth</strong> </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://canveymemories.blog.co.uk/2007/07/16/part~2643933/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>a-part-9http://canveymemories.blog.co.uk/2007/07/16/part~2643933/#commentshttp://canveymemories.blog.co.uk/2007/07/08/part_8_more_characters~2594823/tag:canveymemories.blog.co.uk,2007-07-08:/2007/07/08/part_8_more_characters~2594823/Sun, 08 Jul 2007 11:52:06 +0200 <p><strong>PART 8 SOME MORE CANVEY CHARACTERS<br> * Sparrow Dent - the scourge of non ticket holders on the Canvey buses although only five feet nothing in thick soled shoes he grew to an enormous six feet when he donned his inspectors uniform, and always seemed to be acting the hard man, we had this annoying habit of chewing up our bus tickets into wet soggy balls which didn't please Sparrow who had to wait until we flattened them out for inspection.<br> * Another bus inspector I recall was Bert Windsor a rather big bloke with a very bald head (I worked with his brother Ronnie at Regent and he too was lacking what I now lack, hair) Bert wasn’t so officious as Sparrow and you could have a laugh and joke with him (like making out that you had lost your ticket and spend a long time looking for it and then produce the ticket from some queer place on your anatomy.)<br> * One of the bus drivers I clearly remember was a "Jack the lad " type ( one of your readers on Canvey told me his name was Bert Foulgar)long black hair good looking and wearing an ear-ring and looking like a gypsy, who had a lot of the young girls hearts in a flutter We called him 'Lover boy"<br> * Dave - last name not known, the resident pianist during the summer season at the Monaco pub on the seafront, small and a bit bald he brought the house down when he sang ( minus his false teeth ) "Shining Sarah sitting in a shoeshine shop, and when she sits she shines and when she shines she sits" Sing that fast and after a few milk stouts and you will see what I mean. </p> <p>* Joe Overs - Canvey's professional photographer who was always seen riding his bike in much the same style as P. C. Farmer and when you asked him how he was he replied "I'm alright on the whole"<br> I could go on and on, Tiny Tim from the Jolly Boys café at the beginning of Beach Road, (whose head could just be seem above the counter) Harry Whitcombe a foreman at Gouldings Sheet metal Factory who was also a part time fireman and after the siren had sounded could often be seen peddling furiously down Long Road trying to get to the fire station before the fire went out.<br> * Billy Hodder - After a year at Gouldings I left and obtained a job on the Harold Hill new town site as a plant fitters mate and a bus used to leave Canvey every morning to transport workers to the site, now the steward on this bus was Billy Hodder (this was Bill's bus and nobody but nobody got on that bus unless Bill said so) and a funnier man I have yet to meet. He would have been the original Arthur English and from the moment I got on the bus until we arrived at the site I was in stitches, jokes rolled out of his mouth in a continual stream and being only 16 at the time a lot of them went over my head, but as everybody else on the bus was laughing so did I. Come to think of it the bus was a Hodder family special as besides Bill there were his brothers Laurie, Ronnie and Buck and two brothers-in-law Bill and Bert ? Lewis and as I said at the start one of the funniest men I have ever met.<br> I can still visualize Bertie Benson wearing a Trilby Hat and carrying his big brass instrument - I think it was a euphonium. He used to catch the train into the City nearly every day to do a bit of busking and could always be seen walking up Ferry Road towards the station<br> Also there was a bloke who used to wear smart navy whites in the summer and all through the winter he wore yellow sou westers including a hat and Wellington boots.<br> Arthur Reid who I suppose would have been Canvey's answer to old man Steptoe<br> Some of the other characters that I can recall are Mr. Andrews who used to deliver bread around the Island on a three wheeled tradesman’s bike all hours of the day and night, definitely not the fastest thing on three wheels in fact it would be a dead heat between him and a tortoise in a race.<br> Mr. and Mrs. Harmes who were expert ballroom dancers always in the dance hall floor of the Red Cow on a Saturday night and whilst us lads reluctantly got forcibly dragged onto the floor, shuffling around on the same spot, one hand under your partners bum , the other around the back of her neck, one eye one the clock (seeing how long to chucking out time) and the other eye on your beer Mr. and Mrs. Harmes would be spinning all around the floor oblivious to all the obstacles in their way (us). </strong> </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://canveymemories.blog.co.uk/2007/07/08/part_8_more_characters~2594823/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>a-part-8http://canveymemories.blog.co.uk/2007/07/08/part_8_more_characters~2594823/#commentshttp://canveymemories.blog.co.uk/2007/07/06/part_7_canvey_charactors~2583119/tag:canveymemories.blog.co.uk,2007-07-06:/2007/07/06/part_7_canvey_charactors~2583119/Fri, 06 Jul 2007 08:14:50 +0200 <p><strong>Part 7 Characters<br> Because there are quite a few of these memorable characters I am splitting them up into two episodes<br> In recalling these people I have mentioned names, now this is no way meant to be derogatory or put them down, in fact I am putting them on a pedestal as they are an integral part of Canvey's history and I hope that older residents who read this can also remember these characters and have a little laugh and maybe an odd tear.<br> These are some of the people I can recall during my early years.</p> <p>* The first one I can recall seeing when I moved to Canvey was the Bird Man who used to stand on the corner opposite the Haystack Pub and feed all the birds and sing to himself, the song went something like this ... I'll be pleased to hear the noisy aero planes shan't I - shocking - the damn noise affects me - I can't work for years and years and years every fortnight. Then he would go and recite a cure for a cold which went something like this "two ounces oil of linseed, one ounce oil of turpentine " etc. a harmless happy person we were told that he was a wartime pilot suffering from shell-shock.<br> * Mrs. Freeman and her daughter, known as The Cat Lady who wore what I can only describe as St Trinians girls uniform (a short skirt with stockings full of holes)and a beret pulled down over her ears and pushing a Tansad canvas pram around Canvey with her cats wrapped up in blankets lying like a pair of babies in the pram.<br> * Fred and Bill McCabe - Fred was the Editor of Canvey News and Benfleet Recorder and known to us boys as Canvey's leading crime reporter, we used to rib him every time we saw him by asking him if he had caught any villains lately. His brother Bill was a builder and every time we saw him we would say "Keep your chin up Bill" now all the readers who can recall Bill will know the significance of this remark.<br> * Jack Bradley known to everyone as Cockle Jack (a rather rotund man) who owned the very popular cafe opposite the Haystack was always outside selling seafood from his stall while his better half Ann and her helper Kit Foster did the serving inside.<br> * Peggy Della with her red beret - whose rich baritone voice could be heard echoing from the Haystack to Lakeside Corner. Her command of the English language - very colourful to say the least - was an education and her rude answers shouted to us on the other side of the road to some very rude personal insulting questions burnt your ears.<br> * Peter Bond who always wore a knee length maroon jacket and drove around Canvey in a Hudson Terraplane convertible with his two mates sitting up on top of the back seats the car being previously owned by Dianna Dors (So we were led to believe!)<br> * Lt. Col. Horace P Fielder a leading Tory Party figure who owned the local caravan park (who I think eventually had the Conservative Hall named after him) and had this fanatical notion in his head that all of the local yobs had but one thing on their minds and that was to rape and pillage every one of his female holiday makers and therefore maintained a 24 hour guard on his site trying to chase off any local intruder with his walking stick, but one man with a limp and a bike was no match for the "Hungry" erect (metaphorically of course)_ Canvey boys who he called "Those horrible Oyster Fleet boys". Looking back in retrospect I would have done the same thing as him.<br> He also had a very nice looking wife called Barbara who was once a Canvey beauty queen (I think)</strong> </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://canveymemories.blog.co.uk/2007/07/06/part_7_canvey_charactors~2583119/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>a-part-7http://canveymemories.blog.co.uk/2007/07/06/part_7_canvey_charactors~2583119/#commentshttp://canveymemories.blog.co.uk/2007/07/04/part~2568991/tag:canveymemories.blog.co.uk,2007-07-03:/2007/07/04/part~2568991/Wed, 04 Jul 2007 00:47:49 +0200 <p><strong>Essex Way also brings back memories as many a time I used to park my black Ford V8 Pilot at night at the top lay-by near the water tower (just to admire the twinkling lights across Canvey and meditate, you will understand that of course!!) with my girl friend until our dreams were disturbed by a knock on the steamed up window and a melodious policeman's voice saying "Hello Hello Hello? What have we here then".<br> Which meant winding down the window one inch and from the back seat explain to the very nice gentleman trying to shine his torch through the misted up window that you were just passing the time and listening to Radio Luxembourg, needless to say a grin used to spread across his face and he would depart, this was before the era of random breath tests because I am sure many a time if I would have had to blow into the bag I would have been over the limit.<br> Whilst on the subject of trains I think belated thanks is due to the old L.M.S. Railway on the design of the carriages and the very advantageous positioning of the railway stations, this I will explain. The carriages were divided into separate compartments of 12 with a door handle that could be held shut from the inside by putting your shoe against the handle thus denying access to everyone, and a light bulb that could easily be removed with a twist. With regards the stations it was a couple of minutes travel between Southend and Westcliffe and the same between the stations up to Leigh but between Leigh and Benfleet was a superb 8 to 10 minutes or so it seemed and by restricting passengers to the compartment by pushing your foot hard onto the inner handle and removing the bulb as the train pulled out of Leigh you had all this time to do your own thing, hopefully with the female of the species (i.e. read the Evening Standard, play dominoes, snakes and ladders, discuss the state of the economy or PARTAKE IN BIOLOGY LESSONS) and by raising your head you knew that when you saw the lights of Canvey Bridge and the Bus Terminal and Cafe you had one more minute to straighten your tie???? And get ready to disembark, Of course now with the modern trains all one compartment, brilliant lighting and very fast, this type of pleasure is denied to the new younger generation so progress does have its drawbacks.</strong></p> <p> <small> <a href="http://canveymemories.blog.co.uk/2007/07/04/part~2568991/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>a-part-6http://canveymemories.blog.co.uk/2007/07/04/part~2568991/#commentshttp://canveymemories.blog.co.uk/2007/07/03/part~2568535/tag:canveymemories.blog.co.uk,2007-07-03:/2007/07/03/part~2568535/Tue, 03 Jul 2007 22:36:03 +0200 <p><strong>Most of the girls living on the Island either commuted to the City or worked at Egans Factory or Neales a bookbinding firm at Northwick Corner<br> The girls who used to travel to the City to work went mob handed, nearly on the same bus and train. One of the girls gave me the nickname of "peanuts" as I was always sat on the top deck of the bus in the back seat eating peanuts and it was this one girl amongst that mob that I had a crush on, nice little dimples on her cheeks but as I was rather shy back in those days I did not have the courage to ask her out, I just wonder where I would be now if I had of asked her out??.<br> I will not mention her name in case she still lives on the Island (Oh the joys of youth.)!!!!!<br> Who can ever forget a typical Saturday in the Fifties -<br> One of the most popular cafes was Cockle Jacks being situated in the centre of the Island (opposite the Haystack pub) Whose owner’s wife used to tolerate all the boys and girls meeting there and very rarely spending a lot of money, I think she was happy just to have the café busy ,we would then decide what we were going to do that day, decide what and where we would go , sort out who we were going with then a bus to Benfleet Station, on the train to Southend , a walk to the top of Pier Hill where we went into Peggy's café here all the hot food was displayed in the front window in large trays, filled ourselves up then either went to the Gliderdome for an hours roller-skating or to the Kursal,<br> The Gliderdome experience was great and as usual we mucked about, we would skate around in a large circle get up speed and the let go of the last person in the line who would then go out of control causing chaos on the rink<br> Very often we would be so engrossed in enjoying ourselves that we forgot the time and missed the last train to Benfleet (which wasn't all that late) and then we would walk home to Canvey singing and larking about sometimes calling into any fish and chip shop that was just about to close and say "Have you got any fish and chips left" and if they said yes we would say to them "well you shouldn't have cooked so many" and laughingly walk out of the shop.<br> Sometimes we were stopped by the local police and asked to keep our singing down but it was all in good fun, it is quite a long way from Southend to Canvey so we were knackered by the time we walked (and sometimes rolled) down Essex Way, by that time of course the last bus had gone so another long trudge over the level crossing and along Lakeside Path and home.<br> One thing I will iterate now and all through these memories is that although we mucked and larked about and sometimes were a pain in the arse to some of the older residents on the Island and got into quite a few scrapes never did we resort to kicking or the use of knives<br> In fact, by to-day's standards, we were model citizens.</strong></p> <p> <small> <a href="http://canveymemories.blog.co.uk/2007/07/03/part~2568535/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>a-part-5http://canveymemories.blog.co.uk/2007/07/03/part~2568535/#commentshttp://canveymemories.blog.co.uk/2007/07/02/a_photos~2555694/tag:canveymemories.blog.co.uk,2007-07-02:/2007/07/02/a_photos~2555694/Mon, 02 Jul 2007 04:52:56 +0200 <p><strong>I have added some old photos I have from my time on Canvey, there is also an album of scanned photos in black and white and not very clear that were sent to me by various people from Canvey so just click on the profile photo<br> Then click on "more" to see the other albums<br> Thank you Peanuts</strong> </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://canveymemories.blog.co.uk/2007/07/02/a_photos~2555694/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>a-photoshttp://canveymemories.blog.co.uk/2007/07/02/a_photos~2555694/#commentshttp://canveymemories.blog.co.uk/2007/07/02/part_4_first_job~2555460/tag:canveymemories.blog.co.uk,2007-07-02:/2007/07/02/part_4_first_job~2555460/Mon, 02 Jul 2007 01:03:34 +0200 <p>My first job after leaving school at 15 was with Gouldings & Sons Sheet metal and Wireworkers where a lot of local boys had their first taste of working for a living. They had two factories, one in Yamburg Ave (Wireworks) and one in the old market building down on the corner of St. Annes Road (Sheet metal),<br> I worked at the wirework factory which was only a few minutes walk from Beach Road, my starting wage was 10 pence an hour - a grand total of One Pound Sixteen Shillings and Eight pence a week, of which I gave my Mum one pound. Can you imagine the outcry if you asked your kids now to give up over half their gross income towards the upkeep of the family!<br> The foreman at the wireworks was a man called Arthur Richards and a nicer man you would not meet, his tolerant attitude to the boys who had just left school helped us to acclimatize to the workforce, when you start your first job straight from school you need a man like Arthur to ease you into adult life not some boss or foreman who think their sh*t doesn’t stink and play all kinds of idiotic tricks on you.<br> When you had learnt the basics of the job the pay went up to 1 shilling an hour and you were put on piecework which meant the faster and harder you worked the more money you ended up with at the end of the week which was another good lesson in life (work hard and you will prosper).<br> Mr. Goulding the boss left the running of the factories to his foremen and did not visit the factories all that often, when he did he reminded me of Winston Churchill as he was very big and smoked a cigar.<br> We all looked forward to pay day and the visit of the Telfer Pie man from whom we bought pies, sausage rolls and slabs of cake and when you came from a poor family the pride in taking pies and sausage rolls home on pay day was tremendous. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://canveymemories.blog.co.uk/2007/07/02/part_4_first_job~2555460/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>a-part-4http://canveymemories.blog.co.uk/2007/07/02/part_4_first_job~2555460/#commentshttp://canveymemories.blog.co.uk/2007/06/30/part_3_school_days~2545574/tag:canveymemories.blog.co.uk,2007-06-30:/2007/06/30/part_3_school_days~2545574/Sat, 30 Jun 2007 06:58:24 +0200 <p>When we left London in 1948 I was going to the Leyton County High school for boys so I had to enlist at Westcliffe High School for boys but as my academic skills were (to say the least) unsatisfactory they were quite happy for me to transfer to William Read Secondary School Long Road (by Jones Stores).<br> This school was more on my wavelength and at this point I must make mention of some of the teachers at this school.<br> The name "Slasher" Eales still sends a tremor through every old school pupil when recalling school days, a strict disciplinarian to whom a kick up the bum or a clout around the head was the norm (plus of course the cane) a 24 hour teacher who's beady eyes were always on you even after school, he also took gardening classes and scripture lessons and when Slasher said "dig" you dug and when Slasher said "Pray" you bloody well prayed.<br> On Saturdays and Sundays he could be seen cycling up and down Long Road and if his telescopic and X-ray eyes caught you doing something wrong or acting the goat then on Monday morning woe betide you.<br> He was a practicing Christian as he was a sidesman (I think that’s what they call them)<br> All the time we were at school we thought Slasher was a right B#@!!#d but when you look back in retrospect this man was responsible for keeping thousands of us rascals on the straight and narrow ,taught us the meaning of respect, obedience and the will to work hard, in fact the type of teacher that is required in schools this present time were the aforementioned virtues are sadly lacking.<br> Another man who used to put the fear of Christ up us was the local policeman by the name of P.C. Farmer, now this huge overweight man used to ride his mode of transport (a bike) with his heels on the pedals and rode very slowly, but this was deceptive as my mate Harry and myself were caught riding two on a bike by him so he gave us a stern lecture and told us to walk to where we were going but being smart arses as soon as he got out of sight and carried on riding we jumped back on and rode around the block and as we went around a corner who should be in front of us was , you’ve guessed it one P.C. Farmer who issued us with a summons to appear at Rochford magistrates court for which we both got fined 10 shillings(I think) a very smart copper that one.<br> It isn’t until you get older and more wiser that you do realize just how much influence these two men had on your own ideal standard of living<br> "Gillie" Potter the science teacher and Miss Dalrymple the music teacher - I think - who did her best to try and get a load of us Canvyites to sing in tune "Who is Sylvia, What is she?." an impossible task.<br> Just to conclude on school life can you imagine about fifteen boys some with voices breaking, some with deep voices and some still with their high voices all trying to harmonize with fifteen girls all singing with high pitched screams with as much gusto as they could produce, With this Cornucopia of sound even modern day music would not be able to beat this.<br> The Headmaster (I think) was a Mr. Watkins.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://canveymemories.blog.co.uk/2007/06/30/part_3_school_days~2545574/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>a-part-3http://canveymemories.blog.co.uk/2007/06/30/part_3_school_days~2545574/#commentshttp://canveymemories.blog.co.uk/2007/06/23/part~2503256/tag:canveymemories.blog.co.uk,2007-06-23:/2007/06/23/part~2503256/Sat, 23 Jun 2007 04:13:26 +0200 <p>The daily walks down to the beach, Andrews Amusement Arcade and the Casino are still fondly remembered.<br> At the bottom of Maurice Road by the seafront was Andrews, this was rather a small ramshackle fun fare and wasn’t very popular with us boys<br> Down the seafront was the Casino amusement arcade with rides, machines and a small lake with boats you could hire out.<br> The penny machines in the Casino were ripe for cheating, when you won on the machine you were supposed to turn the knob twice and get your penny back but we turned the knob very slowly until it was about to click<br> then you spun the knob very fast and it clicked past the stop and you kept doing it and getting pennies every time, also all of the money used to fall into the bottom of the machine which had a wooden door so as the owner could get the money out but there was a gap at the bottom of the door and there was enough room to slide an hacksaw blade into the gap and slide the pennies out and we did quite well out of this, and of course the more you used the hacksaw the bigger the gap became at the bottom.<br> The owner of the Casino was a Mr. Beaumont and he and his two sons used to walk around with huge bunches of keys hanging around their necks (these they used to open the machines when they broke down) so we had to keep an eye out for them as they knew what was going on it was just a case of catching us, which, with our street wise intelligence, was a very difficult task.<br> When they started to come towards s we would be out of the door and up onto the sea wall, pockets full of pennies and rattling like mad.<br> They got to know us and then whenever we went into the Casino they hovered around us like a bad smell.<br> We then adopted commando tactics with someone finding out which section of the Casino they were in and we would then duck into the other section and do our bit with the hacksaw blade.<br> This all changed when we got the lovely taste of Charrington’s beer so our hunting ground became the Monico Pub next door.<br> I bet many readers have some fond memories of the Monica with Dave the pianist a small bald headed bloke who used to take his false teeth out and sing “Shining Sarah sitting in a shoeshine shop and when she sits she sings and when she sings she sits” say that fast and you’ll see what I mean.<br> Also down on the seafront was the Canvey Model Village a small area made up of a collection of miniature buildings , this was only of interest to the multitude of visitors mainly from East London. and of course the numerous Bingo stalls dotted along the seafront<br> Up on the sea wall (level with the Monico pub) was a very unique building shaped lie a ship’s bridge, this was the Labworth Café and the building was one of the few architectural designs by Ova Arup (whoever he is) and very art deco<br> When we left London in 1948 I was going to the Leyton County High school for boys so I had to enlist at Westcliffe High School for boys but as my academic skills were (to say the least) unsatisfactory because although I had passed the 11 plus exam and won a place at the Leyton County High School each successive year I went down a grade so by the time I left at 14 I was in a C class, the reason for this was that algebra, trigonometry, French, German and Geometry was just too much for me to take in so at Westcliffe they were quite happy for me to transfer to William Read Secondary School Long Road (by Jones Stores) on Canvey Island</p> <p><strong></strong> </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://canveymemories.blog.co.uk/2007/06/23/part~2503256/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>a-part-2http://canveymemories.blog.co.uk/2007/06/23/part~2503256/#commentshttp://canveymemories.blog.co.uk/2007/06/21/part~2491170/tag:canveymemories.blog.co.uk,2007-06-21:/2007/06/21/part~2491170/Thu, 21 Jun 2007 07:34:07 +0200 <p>CANVEY AS I REMEMBER IT<br> EPISODE ONE OF MANY<br> Sitting out here in Australia in my Seventy fourth year with the temperature on 38 degrees Centigrade and a cold Tooheys in my hand my mind went back to the wonderful memories of my teenage years on Canvey Island, so I decided to put pen to paper and take a happy trip down memory lane which your readers might like to share with me. As it is a rather long trip I am spreading it over a number of episodes I hope a lot of members of my blog site are senior citizens as they will remember the 50s and sixties and there are quite a lot of people on the Island who were in their teens in the fifties.<br> My first memories of Canvey Island when I moved from London with my family just after the war were the wide open country spaces and the unmade roads. My parents had rented a small bungalow at the very end of Beach Road which in the winter became a quagmire and impassable, luckily we had a back path which led up to the High Street, but these conditions were nothing to the pleasures that Canvey gave to a Londoner used to congested streets and little freedom. This back path went past a row of shops that included the "Toothman" who made false teeth, Selby's the barber, a gun shop, a shop used for storage (Just found out it was owned by Ken Macquarie) one used by Mr. Bishop as storage and a few other shops that I cannot recall, the path ended in the High Street by Tremains the newsagent and just past Tremains was Bishops the greengrocers and then Attewells the butchers where my brother Roy had a part time job delivering the orders (this was whilst he went to school and before he joined the Royal Navy as a Boy seaman).<br> Our next door neighbors were a Mr. and Mrs. Watts (who was instrumental in getting me a job with the Regent Oil Co.) and next to him lived Jack Surrage and his family.<br> Mr. & Mrs. Watts lived in a bungalow that was at one time a school.”<br> The bungalow that my father rented was a small two bedroom fibro one and, having sisters, my brother and I slept in a shed in the garden (this may sound rough but the extra freedom it gave us outweighed the discomfort). This shed was provided by the Coastguard Department (unbeknownst to them). During the war they had built a two storey observation post on a field at the sea wall end of Weel Road ( in what is now called Kismet Park I believe) which was left empty when the war ended, so every night my brother and I stripped a couple of planks from it and with our father walking on the other side of the road took them home. End result one shed in our garden and just a 4 x 2 frame at the seafront.<br> I suppose he thought it was better for us to get caught than himself (only joking)<br> Our bed in the shed was covered with numerous greatcoats (all obtained from the Sally Army) so we were very warm in the winter, plus the fact that our mum used to put a couple of house bricks in the oven and when it was time to go to bed the bricks were rapped up in an old pillowcase and into the bed.<br> By sleeping out in the shed we had the opportunity to sneak out and go exploring (only God help us if our father had found out).<br> That was fantastic as my brother was 12 and I was 14<br> More to come</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://canveymemories.blog.co.uk/2007/06/21/part~2491170/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>a-part-1http://canveymemories.blog.co.uk/2007/06/21/part~2491170/#commentshttp://canveymemories.blog.co.uk/2007/06/21/introduction~2490862/tag:canveymemories.blog.co.uk,2007-06-21:/2007/06/21/introduction~2490862/Thu, 21 Jun 2007 05:15:08 +0200 <p>Welcome to my blog page, here there will be my memories of my teenage years (and another ten untill I left Canvey)living on Canvey Island Essex.<br> In my eyes boys, and more than likely girls, the teenage years are the most exciting years of your lives , you can do things that the older generation don;t like, experiment with everything and usually get away with it.<br> This is not your usual blog, I will not be telling you that I had cornflakes this morning and I burnt the toast ,it is a sunny day etc.<br> Just my memories of what I consider to be the greatest decade of the 20th century, very little unemployment, no drugs ,none of us had heard the word suicide, we fought with our fists and not knives and guns and best of all the plethora of singers and artists ever, thats the 50s<br> So sit back fasten your seat belts and I will start posting very soon<br> Eddie </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://canveymemories.blog.co.uk/2007/06/21/introduction~2490862/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>introductionhttp://canveymemories.blog.co.uk/2007/06/21/introduction~2490862/#comments