Dancing across London …. and on in to Bermondsey ….1965

I like musicals, and so when I saw a trailer for a 1965 film about London and especially Bermondsey, I was hooked and sent off for the DVD.

My River, 1968

For what ever reasons I never saw the film at the time, which might be because it never quite made it to the Well Hall Odeon or the ABC in the High Street

But more probably because back then I didn’t fancy watching Joe Brown, Una Stubbs, Sophie Hardy and Sid James, sing and dance their way around London to an implausible plot, which involved them trying to steal, a bowler hat, Guardsman’s bearskin, and a police helmet.*

But fifty-five years on, having exchanged south east London for Manchester I decided it was worth the £6.

Well I rather think the jury is out on value for money.

I have lots of  time for Joe Brown, Sid James and Una Stubbs, all of whom are superb in their own fields, added to which, the support cast were good, and the backdrops were of a London, long gone.

As for the film, its plot and the quality of the songs, I rather think the writers and producer might have been better employed staying at home.

But a bit of me always wants to be generous to anyone who creates something, and it is easy to be critical.

Looking out from Occupation Lane, 2019

So, forget the story line, along with the songs and some dodgy acting, and instead focus on the bigger canvas, which is that London I grew up with and fondly remember.

The River is still flanked by a forest of cranes, the skyline has yet to be dwarfed by tall nondescript buildings, and there is a mix of touristy London with the sort of places I grew up in.

All of which makes it a piece of history well worth watching, not only for the sights but also for a type of “kids” musical where a group of working-class youngsters make fun and come out OK.

Not that I can empathise with the last bit.  I certainly had fun, but my growing up was more mundane, and ordinary.

Added to which I rather think that Cliff Richard did that style of movie a bit better.

Still, the notes on the back under special features holds out the promise of something good from the image gallery.

We shall see.

Location; London, 1964-5

Picture; The River as I remember it, 1968, and Looking out from Occupation Lane, 2019  from the collection of John King

*Three hats for Lisa, 1965

On the Trafalgar Road in 1968 …….. Austen’s ….. that record shop and a slew of ancient memories

This is Trafalgar Road in the spring of 1968.

It was taken by John King, and I am grateful that he has given me permission to use it, because it has set the memories going.

Two years earlier I knew this stretch well because I worked at Austen’s camping shop, which was a job at which  I didn’t crown myself with glory.

But then I was only 16, had big issues with adding up, dispensing the correct change and could never remember which tent was best for a back packing couple.

Even now the smell of canvas, and assorted plastic macs brings back the shop and the summer of 1966 on Trafalgar Road.

The shop has gone, and I think judging by the geography of this bit of the road, it is now an Iceland, but then the building that was the cinema no longer shows films and the old record shop just on from the church offers up all things plumbing instead of all things vinyl.

Not that I suspected any of these haunts of my youth would still exist.

It is after all 60 years since I spent my dinner hours in that record shop, but I still remember the collection of early Bob Dylan LPs I bought there, which are still in the collection.

And when I bring them out flashes of the Woolwich and Trafalgar Roads jump back.

All of which will bore some readers, provoke others to bring out their own memories, and yet more to take a wander down the two roads to do their own "then and now" comparisons.

I cant remember when the hospital was opened, but vaguely think it was being built in that summer I sold camping knives, and in turn bought the record Bob Dylan.

Incidentally that LP had been issued four years earlier, cost me £2.99 and retails now on some sites for £50.

So, all in all nostalgia was a lot cheaper then than now.

Leaving me just to add John’s comment to his picture, “People complain about traffic, but just remember if you are stuck in traffic you are part of the problem.

Ah the golden days of the 60s when traffic jams had not been invented. Think again, Woolwich Road, Greenwich seen in 1968. 

Something had happened in the Blackwall Tunnel, although the second tunnel opened a year earlier the approach road had not been completed.

The vehicles of a couple of old SE London firms can be seen. RACS and soft drinks firm Macintosh.

May 1968”.

To which I will add that L.P. Hartley quote  “The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there,” from his 1953 novel “The Go-Between.”

And as John’s picture shows we did transport, and lorries very differently.

As we did cinemas, and here is the postscript, just a few hours after the original story was published.  Both John and I spent a bit of the morning pondering on that cinema.

I thought it was an ABC but john correctly identified it from an old map as the Granada, which led me to that wonderful site for cinema history which is cinema Treasures, and the entry for the Granada Greenwich at 234 Trafalgar Road.

"It was was opened by film star Gracie Fields on 30th September 1937 with Sabu in 'Elephant Boy' and Brian Donlevy in “Midnight Taxi”. Designed by noted American theatre architect C. Howard Crane, with interior decoration by Theodore Komisarjevsky. 

It had 1,924 seats in stalls and balcony and a rather plain auditorium, quite unlike the style of the opulent Woolwich / Tooting / Clapham Junction Granada Theatre’s. 

It was equipped with a Wurlitzer 3Manual/8Ranks organ which was opened by organist Donald Thorne. The Granada Theatre also had a fully equipped stage".

That said according to the 1947 Kinematic Yearbook it had by that year increased its number of seats to 2,772 seats.

But if you want more you will have to go to the site and find out for yourself, because I make it a policy of not lifting other people's research.

The added bonus is a picture of the cinema, pretty much as I remember it.

Location; Greenwich

Picture; Trafalgar Road, 1968, from the collection of John King

*cinema Treasures http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/3781

Avery Hill on a Sunday…… after the night before .......

Avery Hill will have a special place for many.

For some it will be fond memories of being a student there, while for many others it will be the pleasure of taking time out in the park and visiting the Winter Garden.

And here I confess that my own memories are less to do with the beauty of the place, and more simply that it offered a venue for a second date, the day after the night before.

The scenario will be that familiar one, which begins when you ask someone out for a first date, which usually ended up at the cinema.

If all went well, and after the long walk back from her house, there was the question of how to proceed.

The next Saturday was too far away to wait, and trying to have a meaniful conversation on the Monday at school in front of everyone was a nonstarter.

And so that just left somewhere like Avery Hill on a Sunday afternoon to meet up and judge the future.

The advantage was that it was free, with plenty of land to walk the romantic walk, and if it rained there was the hothouse.

Alternatively, if it all went pear shaped, there was plenty of space to fill the time before you could leave with dignity.

So, after the nervous phone call on Sunday morning, which if all went well was full of banter there was just the equally nervous suggestion of meeting up.

And here I have to say the call was always made at the telephone kiosk down by the Co-op opposite the Pleasausance ………. and never from home.

The golden rule was, never, never offer to call at the house, but instead to meet up somewhere in the park.  That way if either of you had second thoughts it was less embarrassing, and by Monday both of you were prepared for how to behave.

All of which came flooding back, when l came across these pictures by John King of Avery Hill, and having gained permission to use them, the rest as they say are memories from a lifetime ago.

At which point I could reflect on the history of the place, but its history is well known and has been written already, and that history has already  featured on the blog.*

So instead I shall just mention the Friends of Avery Hill**, thank John for his photographs and remember with fondness those happy Sundays which now stare back at me from the distance of a full half century and more.

Location; Avery Hill

Pictures; Avery Hill, 2020 from the collection of John King

*Avery Hill, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/Avery%20Hill
** Friends of Avery Hill, https://www.averyhillpark.org.uk/

Out from Shooter’s Hill …………..

I am a great fan of John King’s pictures, and this ranks as one of my favourites.

We are on Occupation Lane, which is off Shrewsbury Lane, which in turn is off Shooters Hill.

In the 1960s, I often walked up from our house on Well Hall Road, through the woods, and looked out on the city laid out below.

Now I haven’t been back for years, and I am not sure the scene today would be one I liked.

That said, things change and John has captured perfectly the towers in the distance with the old roof tops of a different time.

Location; Shooter’s Hill

Picture; Looking out from Occupation Lane, 2019 from the collection of John King

Celebrating Civic Art ………. "The History of the Old Kent Road"

Now, sometimes I think there is a cross over in stories I write about my own patch of south east London, and the places I have washed up in since I came north.

And this is one of those stories.

"The History of the Old Kent Road",  1965, is located on the former North Peckham Civic Centre.  It is a Ceramic tiled mural by Adam Kossowski, and was installed long after I left Peckham for Eltham.

That said on a rare return visit I came across it, and was impressed.  But in those days I didn’t own a camera, and have not been back since, so the mural depicting the story of the Old Kent Road was lost to me.

Until that is John King posted these three images a few years ago on a facebook site, and the rest as they say was an “instant snatch”.

I often use John’s extensive collection of pictures from where I was born and grew up, and he has always been most kind in granting me permission to use them.

And at times has sent over photographs which complement and add to the stories I post.

So back to the "The History of the Old Kent Road",  which was produced by Adam Kossowski, who was a Polish ceramic artist, who came to Britain in 1943.

At which point I could lift and repeat the  story of Mr. Kossowski which I found on Wikipedia, but that would not do.

Those who want to know more, should follow the link, and instead I will just reflect on the tradition of publicly commissioned artwork which used to adorn many of our civic buildings.*

I am sure it still happens, but I haven’t come across much of it recently, and that is a shame.

That is all there is to say, other than to thank John for sharing the mural with all of us who never get “home”, and equally for all those north, south west or east of Peckham.

And perhaps this will be the first of a new series where we share public “murials” paintings and statues  we like.

Location; North Peckham

Pictures; "The History of the Old Kent Road",  "The History of the Old Kent Road",  1965, Peckham 2020, from the collection of John King


*Adam Kossowski, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Kossowski

Catching a bus ……. London Transport …. The BFI …… and a tribute to the documentary

Now, here is one that just indulges my love of public transport and in particular the London Bus.

Hare Street, 1970

I grew up in southeast London during the first half of the last century, and we didn't have a car, so London Transport which ran buses, as well as the Underground along with the trains of Southern Region was how we got around.

So with that in mind, here are four short documentaries when we still made interesting, and entertaining short films on London Transport, which didn't showcase the lives of celebrities and wannabe celebrities.  The films can be found on YouTube and are from the BFI National Archive

Bridge of Song, 1955,  Fares please, Overhaul,  Story of the RT, 1957. 

They are accompanied by two fine historic photographs from John King whose pictures of London take me back to how south east London used to be, and come with his own description behind the images which offer up a context.

"Hare Street, Woolwich seen from the top of an RT type bus. Other buses can be seen on the stand. Before the new ferry terminal was built traffic would queue in this road to cross the river.

No longer a bus stand here, there is a bus stop for a couple of routes. The road is one way now in the other direction. March 1970".

Woolwich Road, 1968

"Morning traffic on Woolwich Road Charlton. Don't think it has improved that much with the dual carriageway.

Morning rush hour on a misty day. A 177 bus bound for Blackfriars and Embankment can be seen in the queue of traffic on Woolwich Road, Charlton.

On the right is Stone Sports Ground, which flooded one winter, it was left as a lake for many years after with tennis nets sticking out of the water. It has been redeveloped as Stone Lake Retail Park.

Everything in the picture has gone, and the road is now a dual carriageway with a large roundabout around here. August 1968". 

Location; London

Pictures; Hare Street, 1970 and Woolwich Road, 1968, from the collection of John King

*Bridge of Song 1955, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cPYSUyhc1Q

Fares please, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyrj_wZor4U

Overhaul, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8lXC4Xp7YM

Story of the RT, 1957, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ql5yAFByYg

Badges wot I wore ……..

Now I collect badges, which in their way are as much a way of investigating the past as an old photograph, and oral testimony or a history book.

Of course, they don’t tell all the story, but then no individual document ever does.

But they are a start, or in this case a confirmation of that simple fact that for decades certain politicians and political parties have paid lip service to the importance of the NHS but rarely dug deep to fund it adequately when in Government.

This one comes from John King, and could easily have been one I wore back in the 1980s when public services were suffering from Government cutbacks.

And in its way remains a topical badge, because despite the heroic work being done by members of the National Health Service and associated health and care services, there is no doubt that during the last decade as in the 1980s, Governments have not always matched their fulsome praise of the NHS with hard cash.

The badge is also interesting as it offers up a reference to N.U.P.E., which was The National Union of Public Employees, which existed between 1908 and 1993. The union  represented public sector workers in local government, the Health Service, universities, and water authorities.

The union was founded in 1908 as the National Union of Corporation Workers, became NUPE in 1928, and merged with the Confederation of Health Service Employees to form UNISON in 1993.

Location; the 1980s

Pictures; NHS badge, circa 1980, from the collection of John King, and Schools meals badge from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Reflections on masks in the Age of the Virus ……. No.1 at the traffic lights

An occasional short series featuring a mask and the irresponsible  use of the said garment.

Taken by John King who writes, “seen in Eltham today, at Westhorne Avenue where it joins Rochester Way. Cobbett Road in the background".

Location; Eltham

Picture; the mask in Eltham, 2021, from the collection of John King