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The next Newsletter was posted on December 6th 2011, packed up by our great team of local volunteers, not forgetting Brian Smith, who hand-delivers over one hundred copies to local subscribers. Subscriptions cost £10 a year if you live in the UK, more if you live abroad, see subscription form for details.   In this issue: Edith McIntyre at The Lord Nelson The Hot Dogs at The Manchester Arms The 1980s - more of this story The Future of Island History The Two-Minute Silence Reflections on the October Open Days Obituaries See also Newsletter on this web-site  Photograph: Islanders ready to go on an outing, probable date around 1950 - they are the local heroines who survived the inter-war depression and the Blitz - they deserved a good day out!

A New Book on Greenwich Riverside Ron Richards and Derek Bayliss worked together on the Thames riverside at Greenwich until retirement, and now they have put together this delightful book, based on their personal knowledge and research, illustrated with black and white and colour photographs.  Leighton Brown at Darwin Press in Blackheath has helped them to make it a fine-looking production, attractive and easy to read. The area covered by the book runs from  Greenwich Pier westwards to the entrance to Deptford Creek. Victorian Wood Wharf now forms part of Cutty Sark Gardens and the area around Deptford Creek and Thames Street is being redeveloped and will be called New Capital Quay. Ron and Derek are writing about the people who lived there, the many companies which operated there, and the pubs and shops which provided services to workers, residents and visitors. This book will make a great companion on a riverside walk in   the area and is just as good for a comfortable browse at home. Did you know that the Greenwich fishing fleet at one time numbered 67 boats - only Barking on the north bank of the Thames had a larger number on the river Thames. The boats held from two to four crew, who fished with rod and line for salmon, cod and whitebait. In 1850 the Greenwich fleet moved to Grimsby and Hull because of pollution in the river. You can buy this book from Island History. Send a cheque or postal order for £6.00, payable to "Island History Trust" to us at 197 East Ferry Road, London E14 3BA and we'll send you the book!

What's Going on At Island History?

Island History Open Days at the beginning of October were great fun as always, and a moderate success in terms of numbers - packed out on the Saturday, quieter on the Sunday. To be honest, a lot of the fun takes places before and after visitors, when the team of volunteers set the whole thing up, then dismantle it. This involves getting the 99 (seriously) boxes of photographs downstairs and then back up again - without a lift. How is it done? With a chain gang, and due regard for those with bad backs, dodgy ankles, heart conditions, and the young ones placed in the most strenuous positions!

The fantastic team on this occasion included: Carolynne McGaughey, Pam Cole, Colin Hunter, Nick Hostettler, Pernille Finnegan, David Woolley, Ron Waters, Doreen Waters, Edward Ward, Albert Blackall, Brian Smith, Victor Rowland, George Warren, Brian Grover, Ginger Corbett, Daisy Woodard, Bessie Boylett, Buddie Penn, John Penn, Jane Roberts, Barbara Barnes and Pam Beresford. We're always glad to have Brian Grover there too, running a stall for the Museum of London Docklands. 

There were some emotional moments as people met up, sometimes after many years, as when Betty Hillier (now Winter) met up with brothers Michael and Jimmy Lear, childhood neighbours and friends and they had not seen each other since her wedding day nearly fifty years previously. 

The Island Calendar 2012 is flying out of the door - but there are still about 50 copies left in the office (out of the initial thousand), so there is still time to send for your copy if you haven't already got it. See Calendar Order Form

We have been helping visitors with their enquiries, in person, by post, over the telephone and by email. Many of these enquiries lead to stories in the Newsletter or to items on Noticeboard on this web-site. John Hodgson rang up one day to ask if it was true that we had a photograph of a wedding in The Lord Nelson pub in our Collection. We had, tho with only the vague information that it was presumed to be a wedding in the family running the pub, as the original had been found there. John was able to say that he was fairly sure it was the wedding of his cousin. She was the daughter of his aunt, Edith McIntyre, who was landlady at The Nelson for 35 years, retiring in 1959. As a young married woman, Edith had migrated south from Sunderland around 1902.

This contact led to John sending us the full story of his family connection with the Lord Nelson, which is reproduced in the current Newsletter, with a photograph of Edith behind the bar. 

An ack-ack gun is being installed on one of the Second World War gunsites on the Mudchute (the others are used for animal shelters by the Park and Farm). A short film about the Blitz is being made to coincide with completion of this project. Producer Jenny Barraclough has been researching the story and on one of her visits to the Island History Collections, told us about how Captain W.J.S. Fletcher, stationed on the Mudchute, was awarded the Military Cross for his bravery under fire on the first night of the Blitz. This story is told in two books, histories of the Defence of London during the Blitz. However, we cannot find Captain Fletcher's name in the lists of those awarded the Military Cross. For more on this story, see Wartime Memories on this website.

The stories and photographs are the life-blood of Island History, but adminstration also takes up a necessary amount of time, as in any well-run organisation! This is the time of year for completing the Annual Accounts, Annual Report and Returns to the Charity Commission. At their Ordinary Meeting after the AGM, Trustees reviewed our Sunday Opening policy. They decided to change from being open on the first Sunday of every month, to an APPOINTMENTS system for weekends. This should avoid the situation where volunteers are either overwhelmed with numbers, or twiddling their thumbs with no visitors in sight! And gives potential visitors greater choice and better service when they are here.