My background is not atypical for an East End Jew. Both my parents, though not strictly religious, were fairly typical, my father of a family that emigrated from Russia about 1840, my mother who followed her siblings to London from Polish Galicia around 1920. Both of them sought some basic education but my father’s life was affected by both his WWI service and WWII employment and they completed their married lives by raising a small family on very little money won by hard work and careful living which allowed their two children to gain education and qualifications. Both would have thought of themselves as “working class” but knew to deprecate that as a basis for their attitude to life. In Britain both then and now opportunities are relatively open to all regardless of colour, religion, gender etc.

On hopeful notes, my brother left school with just three Gcse’s. I left with none. He wanted to become a journalist and bravely did. First working for the East London Adveriser. His courage was matched by returning to Davenant, the very school I atrended, and covering a story of the Queen Mother visiting his old school.
He regained some status by hoisting a notebook under the teacher’s chin, saying “I want a quote.” Living out the phrase, “The pen is mightier than the cane.”
.Long may the bravery of the East End people be remembered and live on.

Thank you and goodnight everyone for your kindness.
Please tell a school what you read for most of this is untold.
Andy x

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Each of us have a story. We all matter. Thanks to Spitalfields Life, I have learned the heartfelt stories of many people and been enriched by every one.

Onward and upward.