Comments on: Stepney Old People’s Welfare Association

By: Ramesh p

Ramesh p — Tue, 04 May 2021 03:19:54 +0000

Nice images , we are from india I want to help

By: Marcia Howard

Marcia Howard — Fri, 11 Sep 2020 12:52:45 +0000

Amazing images. They’ve left me with a warm feeling inside. I was born in the late 40s, and although we didn’t have a lot – there wasn’t much in the shops even if you did have spare money – we grew up in a wonderful community in London where everybody looked out for each other. I treasure that, and it’s how I try to treat my neighbours to this day – WHEN I actually see them!

By: Pamela Traves

Pamela Traves — Fri, 11 Sep 2020 05:32:14 +0000

What Amazingly Heartful Pictures of these Senoirs. They looked Happy and having a wonderful time. ???????

By: Kelly Holman

Kelly Holman — Thu, 10 Sep 2020 09:43:28 +0000

Such a lovely collection of pictures, thank you. I would add that not only did that marvellous woman compete in the egg and spoon race whilst carrying her handbag, she posed very fetchingly for the camera too.
Although women predominate in the photos, I was struck by the number of men participating in outings etc. It seems harder to reach older men and include them these days, I think. Certainly our local day centre is attended uniquely by women. I wonder what the secret was?

By: Gillian Tindall

Gillian Tindall — Wed, 09 Sep 2020 20:15:29 +0000

As I have written before for SpitalfieldsLife, I was lucky enough to come in for what were the last years of the old East End, early 1960s, when the ill-advised efforts to move East Enders to faraway places such as Stevenage were not yet complete and many of the old streets of small, liveable houses round Wapping and Stepney Green were still standing. Nearly all the old people I met through the Old People’s Welfare Association had birth-dates in the 1880s and some even in the 1870s – how I would like to have them back to talk to now, even for one afternoon! And I recall several old ladies in Southern Grove – near Tower Hamlets Cemetery which was still in use – who were widows of the First World War. I remember finding a `new’ suit for one old chap; he was very pleased because it was a 3-piece one, with a waist-coat. A resilient generation.

By: Di Corry

Di Corry — Wed, 09 Sep 2020 16:25:09 +0000

Absolutely wonderful photos that have captured the spirit and essence of those days in the East End.
So familiar……yet so far away now.
That amazing, stoic generation still smiling after everything most of them had endured during the dark days of the Blitz. I salute them all.

By: Richard Smith

Richard Smith — Wed, 09 Sep 2020 16:25:01 +0000

Like the other person above I love the lady doing the egg and spoon race whilst carrying her hand bag. Beautiful pictures!

By: Claire D

Claire D — Wed, 09 Sep 2020 13:06:49 +0000

Such heart-warming pictures, I remember this generation well, they were very special.

“Queen Mother intervenes in a game of bridge”, brilliant, made me laugh, thank you.

By: Helen Breen

Helen Breen — Wed, 09 Sep 2020 12:08:50 +0000

Greetings from Boston,

GA, welcome back from your holiday. What great pics of these “seniors” (as we might call them today) from the Royal Foundation of St. Katherine from after WWII. They certainly knew how to appreciate what they had.

Well said – “Their physical expressions of affection and delight in collective activities speak eloquently of a strong sense of community forged through hard times.”

By: Margaret Buckmaster

Margaret Buckmaster — Wed, 09 Sep 2020 11:47:37 +0000

What wonderful pictures. I was born September 1940. People had to endure so much hardship but they always managed to smile.