Dad told me about his first day at work – at 41 Lothbury – in those days the head office of the forerunner of NatWest Bank. He talked of how he, his brother and his father all commuted into London together from Surrey in the late 1940s. To my great surprise, he also told me how his father, George Parnall Cole (the youngest child of Louisa and Robert – seen in these photos) had spent the Second World War on the rooftops of the Bank of England watching for enemy bombers. Night after night, my grandfather George did his bit during the Blitz, protecting his beloved London from the Nazis.

Sadly Dad has now passed – but he was so proud of his Cole ancestors and how we had kept the 300 year family tradition going of working in the City and East End. After 30 years of daily commuting, I no longer commute into London but both my daughters do – commuting daily – as do my Cole nieces. A proud long line still continuing to this day.

After we performed the very sad task of clearing our parents’ house earlier this year, my brothers and I promised each other that we would all get together with a our respective families under our plaque in Brushfield Street to celebrate the Coles and our families long long connection to the East End

So thank you for publishing this. It is very timely as I think it’s now time for me to round my family up to celebrate our Cole family’s East End heritage.