Exploring the story of Mr Holdaway of Lewisham

Now here is a double mystery and a celebration of a fine ghost sign.

Myrom Place, Belmont Hill, 2017

Ghost signs are the names of businesses and products which long ago vanished.

They were painted directly onto the walls of buildings and sometimes even on to the roof of a property.

This one is courtesy of my friend Ryan and is on the gable end of what is now Cafe Delight on the corner of Belmont Hill and Myrom Place just off Lewisham High Street.

In time I will go looking for Mr C. Holdaway to solve the mystery of when he was in business and maybe I will also get an answer to what a crainer was.

I can only suppose it was linked to the profession of painting and decorating, but a search has not revealed an answer.

I have found a reference to a Mr Callum C Holdaway who was married in Lewisham in 1958 and other people with the same surname in and around the area from the beginning of the last century into the 1960s.

And here in advance of posting the story I discover that a crainer was a grainer, ...... all to do with how you read the sign.

It was my friend Bill Sumner who told me that he "used to admire that graining or scumbling as we called it.

A  local landlord in Gorse Hill did the fronts of a whole block of houses with it and they were the smartest houses in the district for many years. It was possible to choose any type of timber and have your windows and doors painted and grained to suit. 

I still have a set of the steel combs that were used, and somewhere have my brothers books that he showed to customers so they could make their choice. He became a master decorator after doing National Service"

Well that saves me from looking a twerp and makes perfect sense.

Leaving me to ponder on whether the bubble writing at the bottom of the wall will still be there in a decade.

Location; Lewisham

Picture; ghost sign, Myrom Place, 2017 courtesy of Ryan Ginn

Home thoughts from abroad nu 5 ................. "Thursday evening stroll"

One of the joys of being a member of the "Well Hall in Eltham, its stories and its history" site on facebook, is the way I get to see where I grew up.

Over the years I have enjoyed and learnt so much about Eltham's history from the research and photographs of Tricia Leslie and Matt K Finch, the comments by Lesley Ross,Phil Wilson and others, as well as the Pictures from an Eltham Bus series by Larissa Hamment.

To these I must add the stunning sets of pictures from Alison Benson of the Pleasaunce.

And here is one from  Ryan taken during an evening walk through gardens at the Pleasuance.

Location; Well Hall

Picture; "Thursday evening stroll", from the collection of Ryan Ginn

Seen from the train ....... the ghost sign

It's the one Ryan sees from the train

"Normally  just a blur  as the train goes past  but fortunately  today I am stuck at a red signal  awaiting  departure towards Eltham via Victoria Railway Station".

Location; the train from Victoria to Eltham

Picture; ghost sign, 2020 from the collection of Ryan Ginn

The church ..... on a May morning .... from Ryan

Now I always look forward to the pictures Ryan posts of Eltham.

They are usually taken on his way to work when the day is just beginning and everything looks fresh with the promise of all that is to come.

This is one of my favourites, posted today on a social network site, and just makes me think of home.

Location; Eltham



















Picture; our parish church, 2018, from the collection of Ryan Ginn

Walking out one May morning in Well Hall

Now on a day like this, with the sun already climbing across the sky I am thinking of Well Hall, and Eltham.

It is a feature of getting older, that the memories come flooding back and stay longer.

I guess that with fewer routine things to do, from feeding the kids, sending them off to school and going out to work there is more time to let the past wander in.

For me that morning sun is often a trigger and in an instant I am back at the top of our road by the old church, hard by what was Burtons and Wilcox’s.

And it helps when you get a picture of that very spot.

So yesterday I was really pleased that Ryan shared this one of the parish church, on a bright May day.

It is just how I would have seen it walking up Well Hall and that is all I have to say.

Location; Well Hall Road

Picture; Eltham Church, 2018 from the collection of Ryan Ginn

Eltham Church on a March day ........ from the camera of Ryan

Now you can never get enough of pictures of Eltham in my opinion.

And on that I fully accept I am biased for as much as I love my adopted city of Manchester there will always be a bit of me that is Eltham.

So here is one of Ryan’s photographs which he says “whilst out shopping I passed by the St John the Baptist church. 

As I had a great opportunity I thought of several people . 

Eltham is changing so much now I had to take this photo ."

Location; Eltham














Picture; St John’s Eltham, 2017 from the collection of Ryan Ginn

That hole in the ground on the High Street

Now anyone who remembers the RACS store on the High Street will no doubt be following the new development.

Over the months it has featured quite a few times.*

And now Ryan has added another picture to the collection ....... which he has entitled, “foundations for crane at the former Co-op store on the High Street” which pretty much says it all.

If like me you left Eltham a long time ago here is one of those little updates that bring you closer to home.

So a thank you to Ryan who regularly sends me fine photographs of Eltham.

Location; Eltham

Tomorrow, Ryan's ghost sign in Lewisham.




Picture; foundations for crane at the former Co-op store on the High Street

*Pictures from an Eltham Bus,  Larissa Hamment, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Pictures%20from%20an%20Eltham%20Bus

Tower Bridge .............. and thoughts of crossing the Thames

Now if you come from south east London the river is one of the things that defines who you are.

I have always felt comfortable in my bit of London and if truth were told only really feel I have come home when the train pulls across the Thames into Waterloo.

Many of us will also have experienced that rather sniffy and condescending attitude from those who live over the river and which always comes down to tales of taxis refusing to go over London Bridge and a belief that they have the keys to the real city.

So with that in mind after I had bored Peter with the pleasures of my part of London he agreed to take Ryan Ginn’s fine picture of Tower Bridge and paint it, and here is the result.

I am always impressed by both Peter's paintings and Ryan's photographs which are a regular feature of the blog and appear on various facebook sites.

Painting; London Bridge from a photograph by Ryqn Ginn, © 2016 Peter Topping, Paintings from Pictures, 
Web: www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk

*Crossing the Thames early one morning .................. home thoughts from abroad
https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/crossing-thames-early-one-morning-home.html 

A thank you ................ to everyone who makes the blog work

Now the blog has been going since November 2011.

I could wax lyrical about the numbers who read it, the countries where it is read and the fact that there is only one continent where it isn’t browsed but I won't.

Instead it is more about all the people who have helped make it a bit of a success.

They range from Andy Robertson who must be unique in his persistence in recording the changes to the buildings and places around Greater Manchester to David Harrop whose vast collection of memorabilia from the Great War medals to Blitz gas masks and Victorian pillar boxes is always at the disposal of the blog.

Added to these are a whole shedload of contributors, some like Tony Goulding who now writes regularly for the blog and Tricia Lesley who is always at hand to do research from that part of London where I grew up and rolls through to the occasional story or picture from lots of people.

Of these I would just like to thank Sally, Bill Jones and Bill Sumner, Neil, David from Rochdale who once lived in Chorlton and offered up scary stories of Chorlton Brick works and so many more.

Not forgetting of course Peter Topping whose paintings continue to provide an alternative to the photograph.

And because I now am firmly based in the North I rely so heavily on Ryan Ginn and our Colin and Chrissy as well as Jean and Larissa to send me pictures of Eltham and other bits of London.

Not that I shall leave out all my Canadian friends from British Home Children and a lot more from New Zealaand who continue to show that co-operation and a love of research helps us all.

To them and to lots more a thank you.

All of which just leaves me with Andy’s picture of the Opera House in Manchester and Ryan's crane taken on a very early trip to work.

Pictures; Quay Street Manchester2016, from the collection of Andy Robertson and London from Ryan Ginn

In the High Street with Ryan looking for Mr Fry

I always like it when I can revisit a bit of the High Street.

Now given that I live in the North that  is a tad more difficult than when I lived on Well Hall Road.

So here courtesy of Ryan is a building I discovered by chance long after I had taken the train to Manchester.

It sits behind a bank down a narrow pathway but has a rich and interesting history.

So for those who do not know its story or want to know exactly where it is I shall suggest  you read the stories about John Fry and his daughters which have appeared on the blog over the years.*

Armed with these you will be able to follow in the footsteps of Ryan and Mr Fry.

Now that is a challenge.

Location; Eltham High Street

Picture; Mr Fry’s fine house, 2016, from the collection of Ryan Ginn

*John Fry, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/John%20Fry

The lost pub, the story of a family and lots of fine photographs ......... what’s social media got? ... its got the lot

Now there are those who still deride social media as a place to announce to the world the new handbag purchase, the failed bin collection or the next trend in breakfasts.

But that would be to overlook how in a few short years it has become a vehicle to share everything from fascinating sound historical research to collections of fine photographs which would otherwise rarely be seen.

It is open, free from some of the stuffy attitudes about what is history and makes no preconceptions about the right angle to shoot a picture of the Town Hall.

For many people it is the perfect place to showcase what they are doing without having to ask a gallery to exhibit their work or waiting on a publisher to decide if the piece is worthy of publication.

And for me it has not only been a place to park the blog but also a means of communicating with people from as faraway as Canada on our mutual connections with British Home Children, Australia and New Zealand on Great War veterans and of course South East London which I still think of as home.

So with that in mind here is another photograph of Eltham from Ryan along with a thank you to Chrissy and Jean who have also kindly offered up pictures and to Kath and Tricia who continue to come up with some amazing bits of local history.

And that is about all I am going to say.
Location; Eltham, London

Picture; Well Hall, 2016, from the collection of Ryan Ginn

Memories of my childhood in and around Eltham ............... from Ryan Ginn

A long  time  ago  ,  in  the  age  of  innocence ,  fun games  and  a multiple  amount  of  activities  at  Queenscroft Park Eltham.  

Ryan

My  very  first  memory  of  Queenscroft Park  was  thus.

Me  and  my  brother's,  Danny Holmes Shane Ginn  and  Craig Ginn used  to  leave  Haimo  Primary  School  in  the  early  summer  morning.

Our  parents  weren't  exactly  of  the  rich  kind .

We  wasn't  little  oiks  as  some  might  say. But  the  summer's  at  this  park  were  a fantastic  time.

Queenscroft Park

I think I  even  kissed  a girl  called  Rose then.

I think  my  brother  Shane  egged  me  on,  I was  just  a  kid.

Soon  after  there  was  skating  on  the  rink  with  the  old  metal  skates.

They  never  did  fit  as  you  needed  help  to  change  the  size  back  then?

Eltham  Green  school  was  imminent  for  me  eventually.

My brother's  and  my  mother  father  and  my  aunt  Jacqueline  also  had  the  chance  to  be  educated  there.

Mind  you  a lot  longer  before  we  all  did.

Magic days

My  mother  Hazel Ginn  reminds  me  of  when  she  was  just  a  teenager  and  watching  it  being  built .

Anyway .  After  the  Queenscroft Park  days  there were  times  when  our  grandparents  used  to  take us  down  to  Hastings  or  Bexhill.

Bexhill  was  most  fabulous  as  Waidough  and Arthur  had a  hut.

The  old  one's  by  the  pebbled  beach. Tea  and toast  mostly.

A few  hours  being  cramped  in  a  Ford  Anglia?

Imagine  that  with  no  seat  belts  in  the  late seventies.

Not  heard  of  these  days?  Camber  Sands  became  a  real  holiday  home  soon  after  my  grandparents  retired.

My  nan  called  the  caravan Waidough.

"We didn't turn out too bad"

We  all  used  it  for  every  occasion. Karen Welch Paul Adams Terri Allen    Philip Ginn  Nicki Rackley.

The  days  of  when  I met  Laura Hassain.

Our dogs  the  Yorkshire  terriers Tich  and  Toby   and  nan  telling  me  to  go  save  the  tables  for  bingo   .

That  was  too long  time  ago . But  the  summer's  are  long  in  our  minds.

Thankfully  I still  have  some  remembrance  of  it .

Location Eltham, London

© Ryan Ginn, 2016

Pictures; from the collection of Ryan Ginn and Friends of Queenscroft Park* 

*The Friends of Queenscroft Park have a blog, https://queenofparks.wordpress.com/ and canbe found on facebook at Friends of Queenscroft Park,

More of Well Hall from the camera of Ryan Ginn

Yesterday I was in the Pleasaunce with two of Ryan’s pictures and as you do I have decided to feature two more.

For all of us who long ago left Eltham but remember it with fondness this collection is magic.

As a kid I was fascinated by the moat and the bridge and later delighted in both the art gallery in the Tudor Barn and the occasional folk concerts in the auditorium on warm summer evenings.

Our Jill was captured in a newspaper photograph back in the August of 1964 siting with a other children watching a show put on by the Council and once a long time ago my own three lads also sat in the gardens on one of my short visits home.

So for all those reasons and because I like Ryan's pictures these two will kick off a series of his work over the next few weeks.

Location; Well Hall, Eltham

Pictures; Well Hall, 2015, from the collection of Ryan Ginn

Walking in Well Hall ............. the moat and barn

Now you can never get enough pictures of the Pleasuance and the old Tudor Barn.

So with that in mind here are two from a collection Ryan took yesterday when as he says, "I was just walking around the moat . It's still a rather mesmerising place to come and reflect."

And I have to agree.

Location; Well Hall, Eltham, London


















Pictures; Well Hall, 2016, from the collection of Ryan Ginn