I was born in West Silvertown, at 20 Eastwood Road in June 1923 and I went to the local school in West Silvertown. It was called West Silvertown Elementary School and I left there when I was fourteen and I got a job pushing a barrow in Tate & Lyle. I remember on our last day having assembly in the main hall with headmaster congratulating the headboy who came top at everything. He had just been given a job as a telegram boy, the headmaster told us he would be a future Post Master General.
- BD
I was born in Plaistow in Howards Road we moved down to Silvertown when I was 10 months old, and we lived in Barnwood Road until the place finally came down.
- IB
Of course kids still got up to mischief, but the difference - then I don't think I can remember going down six streets without seeing a copper, they always seemed to be about. If you were going to get into mischief you'd spend half your time trying to see if there was a copper about anywhere.
- VT
I went to West Silvertown School, it was a big, lovely old school and we had boys section and girls section. I joined the choir at St.Barnabus Church, we would get paid to sing at weddings, we were all good choir girls. We used to have socials at the church that was the only place to go. A friend used to go to tap dancing classes and she would teach me all the steps. Once we put on a show. It was a great show, all the mums and dads came along.
- IB
Poverty was an everyday reality for most residents. Poverty was an everyday reality for most residents. Mothers had an impossible job trying to feed and clothe their families so that they were healthy.
As one resident remembers:
The only time we got any decent food was when my dad was out of work. We used to go and see the headmaster in school and get a free dinner and breakfast, the only time we ate well was then - it was so good. I was always happy when the old man was out of work I got fed well, the only thing was I didn't get any pocket money.
When you went to bed you'd go to bed with tears in your eyes for something to eat, and you had to wait till the next morning, two thin slices of bread that was all we could afford.
- AB
In those days it was very difficult. Lots of the kids used to go to school without shoes or boots, so the local council introduced a policy for all the children who could not afford to pay for boots to be given them by the local council, from then onwards, 1933 life became a bit better for the really poor children in the area.
- BD
Few women could manage for the whole week on the money given to them by their husbands, even if they were endlessly resourceful, the money/wages was not adequate to support a family. Debts would pile up and most often possessions would be pawned to raise a small amount of money just to buy food till the end of the week.
Many a time I had to go to school with no shoes even if it was the winter. I remember once it was raining the old teacher looked at me, called me over, said, "why didn't you put your shoes on", "I aint got any shoes", "oh", and he put me down for a pair of boots. When I got the boots from the council, inside in gold letters it said, 'not to be pawned'.
- AB
Many a time I had to go to school with no shoes even if it was the winter.
We used to pawn the old man's suit on the Monday. We would pawn anything, suits, saucepans, my dad's best boots. They would go in on a Monday and get them out Saturday, we did not get much for them but enough to get a bit of food for the week.
If a suit cost about four pounds, you'd get about ten shillings. And if it was a good watch, they would cost about £20, you'd get about a fiver. The pawn shop would keep items for a year, then it was sold as unredeemed. Watches or anything that we could would get pawned.
When I was a kid there was an old woman lived down our street used to make money taking items from other women to the pawn shop no one wanted to be seen in the pawn shop. So she would take the items in an old pram to the pawn shop for us, that was how she made her living.
My mum used to take her wedding ring in every Monday morning to be pawned and wear a brass curtain ring all week.
- Interviews in Cundys.
The Street was an important focus for the community everyone knew and helped each other. Kids would play out in the street there was always plenty to do and see.
There was not a lot to do down here in Silvertown, but we would always play out in the streets, I was a proper street-raker I was always out in the street playing with my mates. The times I got told off for being out too late.
- IB
We didn't have cricket bats, couldn't afford cricket bats, you would have two bits of wood and another stick of wood, that you played, you used one paving stone on the pavement as a wicket, and if that piece of wood fell in that paving stone you was out, so that was our pavement cricket. With football, the same thing, we had pavement football, but with a tennis ball, but the good thing about the times then was the fact that although the street was your playground, it was the playground in the evening for the whole family. The mums and dads would come out and sit on the windowsill or the old granddad would sit on a little stool, and they would be joining in with you, and the girls would be skipping with a big rope stretched right across the road, it was a real community spirit that wasn't actually organised.
- VT
I'd go out in the street to play, as the park was ten minutes walk, quarter of an hour to Beckton park. But, as I say, we made our own enjoyment. As kids we used to play all different games that kids don't do now. We had seasonal games, in summer a wooden top, and cricket. Winter time football, that was the only entertainment we got. There wasn't no television or radios. In fact my oldest brother had a cat's whisker earphones, and 2 L O radio station, that was before we had the BBC.
A Cat's whisker. - You had a little bit of quartz and a piece of metal, like a cat's whisker. And you wound it round the quartz and through the earphones you could hear 2 L O. When my father found out about it he didn't give me a chance to listen. He said, "come on where's them earphones".
- AB
It was good growing up around here, it was noisy everywhere especially when the dock was in full swing. We would play for hours in the street the girls would do hopscotch, and we used to play football there was always so much going on that kept us busy. In the summer we would stay out in the street for hours, our front door was always open and the adults would take chairs and sit outside and chat.
- MG
We really enjoyed our school holidays we used to go down to the hop fields. Every year we'd spend the whole six weeks in the hop fields. When we started hop picking was when we should have gone back to school. We went in September, with my nan and the whole family the only one that didn't come was my dad. It was when we were little we used to sing songs while we worked. We used to have to pull up a basket of hops for a packet of spangles.
- TS
