General Chat

hi annie, field rd, know that , when me mum was alive we lived cedars rd; then stratford rd, plaistow; my father owned a toy shop , he made everything himself, forts, dolls houses, wooden walkers and bricks; we moved from there 1966 my uncle lived in margery park rd, recall that rd; not far from west ham park, where we spent many a day; the good old days' jackie

EMMA,/SUSIE Im south of river - Bermondsey. Your rellies would have been near the famous Old Kent Road. 'Any time your Lambeth way, any evening, any day' (Join in everybody!!) The East End and Bermondsey are/were really the same area - just separated by the river and easily crossed through the tunnel which ran under it (well, its still there actually!) The people were the same sort of people, doing the same jobs, same backgrounds and known for their grit and toughness (but damn salt of the earth peeps).

hi heather, yes i belive you are right; , was it roman rd, victoria park,; seems to ring a bell, where my hubby spent many a day; so what was bermondsy like heather? jackie

If anyone is really into the docklands area, there is a fab website called Dockland Ancestors. You can buy a lot of books and stuff from there. I have bought 6 copies of Bermondsey and Rotherhithe Remembered for my rellies (basically cos it has 2 pics of my nan in there - she was a chief fire warden in the Blitz) and also a pic of the street where dad was born and every poor sod in that picture (1930) is related to me. And it has a pic of the house I was born in (no blue plaque as yet) two doors down from the Peak Freans factory. Another brilliant site is PortCities - just google it. I found out Christmas before last dad and his 8 bros were dragged in to a film made in Bermondsey in 1923. Dad suddenly told me as we were watching a film 'I never saw it, mum couldnt afford for us to go'. I spent a year looking for that film in all the archives in the bloody world. I had got a message a few days after my darling dad died last October that I could buy a copy of it from a film museum in Amsterdam.Of course I bought it and it breaks your heart to see what are my dad and his bros, running about, real little ragamuffins in the streets were they lived.

ah heather that is sad yet a lovely story ah how touching; i bet you are proud though , im going to google that later; cheers for that info ah jackie

Jackie, I couldnt have had a better dad - yes I am very proud of him and my mum - I lost her 17 years ago. Dad won all sorts of sports comps - he was only 12 when he was in the winning rowing team for the cross Thames race. He played semi pro football and though he was in a reserved occupation, signed up for the RAF in WW2 (Bomber Command - I am waiting for his service records now)- 'I always wanted to fly'. Bless him at 90 he was still in awe of every little thing in nature, he would call me out to see a butterfly even at that age. Vegetarian all his life (can you imagine that in docklands - they must have called him a nancy boy!) They were wonderful people and I am so glad, the last thing I said to dad in the hospital before he went (he was unconscious but was squeezing my hand when I asked him things) was that I loved him and that I was very proud of him. And I meant it kiddo - he was an absolute prince among men - so many people have said that to me since and its true.

ah heather that is a lovely story; they sound they were lovely parents and to be proud to true' couldnt you write a book, i would, normally bks are of all the horrable tales like the one im writing at mo; but that would be a lovely story an momento , wish my father was half the man your dad was ,to have so many lovely memories too; ,that must be lovely. very bewarding for you; got a tear in me eye now jackie

heather youve summed my nan up perfectly lol no one would mess with her.she always wore a pinny with everything but the kitchen sink stuffed in the pocket at the front lol,bless her. her sister actually lived in the old kent road,i can remember visiting her. my gt grandad worked at the gas works.any idea where that was lol. old ma beale and mo slater remind me of my nan so much. god i miss her,i wish she was still here.even though she terrified me at times lol susie

My Uncle Albie was a supervisor at the Gasworks in Rotherhithe! Why dont you buy a copy of Bermondsey and Rotherhithe remembered by Stephen Humphrey? You can get it from Dockland Ancestors or from Stephen direct (he is the archivist at Southwark archives). It is easy read - but lots of fab pictures from about 1920-1970. Yes, youd larf, my boys keep saying Im getting more and more like Pauline Fowler (we have lived in Norfolk last 20 odd years). Eldest boy (25) works in the television industry and when he was doing a particular series a couple of years back rented a room in a house on what is now called 'Surrey Quays' (Surrey Docks what was). Actually, thats another story - boring you all to tears? - I took my dad up there to look around the docklands after it had all been gentrified in the 80s/90s. I was a bit worried he would be upset by all these flash houses and marinas where he and his family/ancestors had flogged themselves to death carrying hundredweight/20s on their backs all day (132lbs). But, no, he said 'Its bloody fantastic, isnt it'. When we got back to his a neighbour came round 'So what was it like there now?' he asked 'Oh bloody lovely, Dad said 'but its all nancy boys and antiques shops now'. I did larf. Anyway, back to original story, so eldest boy working on a program down there and staying on the 'quay' where his grandad had carried sacks all day and when he came back to visit us he said 'God, mum, cockney old ladies look dead scary, dont they. Will you end up like that?'

heather pmsl it reminds me of when my hubby was working at docklands,fitting new windows into the houses. he came home and told me that the old dears swore like troopers lol. he couldnt believe that 90yr old ladies knew the f word let alone say it!! lmao they are the salt of the earth arent they? i will have a look for the book and let you know how i get on love susie

My mums mum was a bit posh but my dads mum was a real old cockney. She died aged 92 after falling off a ladder cleaning her top outside windows!! Anyway, I can remember her sitting there, hair in plaits wound round her head, dressed all in black and rolling fags!!! When she had this fall (my dad was youngest of 14), we went to visit her in St Olaves (well, dad used to go three times a day). My mum (always known as 'the posh one' to all the bros) wanted to make sure Nan appreciated dads diligence. 'Mum, she shouted, to this 92 year old little old lady laying in the bed, 'You know this is Dick dont you?' Little old lady lifts her head 'Of course I bleedin do - do you think Im effing blind or something?' I can remember my mums stunned look whilst of course, me and sister stood there peeing ourselves larfing.

lol my nan was the same heather. she loved her woodbines it made us larf cos she never actually took a drag on them. she used to have them hanging out the side of her mouth while she was working with an enormous ash on them . when she sat down she used to put them away in the draw lol we called her fag ash lil,but never to her face lol. susie

Hi ,could someone tell me a couple of places that would come under 'Greenwich' My grans parents came from deptford but her birth was registered in Greenwich, she always said she lived near 'bells bow' or in hearing distance?? I have been trying to find out where she lived for ages now and as there's not many 'Birchards' (her surname) on here, so there's no-one that I can ask. So can anyone give me some name places that would have come under 'Greenwich', perhaps then I might remember a place that she mentioned. many thanks to you all Cheryl

Cheryl, as I said before, she was being a little bit loose about the Bow Bells bit. The saying is you are a cockney if you are born within sound of Bow Bells. Bow is the other side of the River Thames from Greenwich so there would have to be a very quiet day and a strong southerly wind! However Greenwich is a dockland area - a very posh one in a lot of it now - its where the Millenium Dome was built. If you google Greenwich or look under Genuki reg districts it should help you. When was Gran born? Will her parents be on the 1901? I take it this is her lot? View Record Ada C Birchard abt 1883 Deptford, Kent, England Daughter Deptford St Paul London View Record Albert G Birchard abt 1882 Deptford, Kent, England Son Deptford St Paul London View Record Ellen A Birchard abt 1893 Deptford, Kent, England Daughter Deptford St Paul London View Record Ellen B Birchard abt 1862 New Cross, Kent, England Wife Deptford St Paul London View Record Frederick W Birchard abt 1889 Deptford, Kent, England Son Deptford St Paul London View Record Mabel E Birchard abt 1886 Deptford, Kent, England Daughter Deptford St Paul London View Record Richard G Birchard abt 1860 Deptford, Kent, England Head Deptford St Paul London View Record Walter H Birchard abt 1896 Deptford, Kent, England Son Deptford St Paul London

My nan ended up living up Fisher St up by Rathbone Market Canning Town in a ground floor flat.We had to get her moved into a nursing home as she kept falling and almost blew the block of flats up.My dad went there and he could smell gas as he got through the security doors.Raised the alarm and then went into my nans as she was going to lite one of her senior service fags when my dad found her cooker on.In the nursing home she was no better and told one old dear that took a shine to me to b****r off and that other word as i had come to see her.Was not mean with her fags though, shared a room with an old lady that could not sit up or move.She gave her a fag one day lite it and cleared off.The poor old dear had all fag burns in her blouse.Nan was the double of the old gran that Catherine Tate takes off.Think she was modeling my nan.Wish nan was still here Annie

hi annie, ye my bro still lives near rathy market.,luvs it he do, the old pie mash shops gone now, ha ya poor old gran, bless er, she obviously didnt realise she left the gas on. gorden bennett, good job he went in in time before she lite that fag up; dont bare thinking about. had to laugh at her telling that person off ,when took a liking to you, ah bless er, well may be she thought youd gone there to see her, and that was it; ah that was an intersting story annie jackie x

Hiya Jackie, Sorry, no recall, but my family were ROSS

me born in dagenham mother born in stepney well all her family mother a lawrence father a white now im in swansea wales (emigrated)lol sue

4 got my auntie mary was born within the sound of bow bells my mum tells every 1

I was born in Barking, which was then classed as Essex, as was my Mum and her mother.
My father born in Forest Gate, then classed as Essex, and his Father,and Grandfather.
All these now East London. My Dad's Grandmother born in Hackney,

My Dad's mother born in Bethnal Green, and lived in Mile End, and then Manor Park.

Mo