Comments on: Joyce Ellis At Minto Place

By: Eva Radford

Eva Radford — Mon, 30 Jan 2023 17:01:05 +0000

I loved reading this piece. What wonderful people they were! Thank you.

By: Cherub

Cherub — Sun, 29 Jan 2023 17:26:38 +0000

What a beautifully written and descriptive account of life, I imagined myself there in the house with the ballet shoes hanging up. The part about the pawn shop resonated with me because I remember my late father telling me my granny in Belfast would pawn my grandfather’s best suit on a Monday morning so she had money to feed their children for the week. She would then reclaim it on Saturday so my grandfather could dress for church on Sunday.

True hardships, but lives well lived and strong communities, sadly a lot of this is lost now as people have become distant from each other.

By: June White

June White — Sun, 29 Jan 2023 13:58:49 +0000

A lovely read. So descriptive and well written. How I wish I had asked my grandparents more about their lives.

By: Lynne Perrella

Lynne Perrella — Sun, 29 Jan 2023 12:54:38 +0000

Your post today stirred so many emotions, and those were still reverberating when I read the
comment by Christine, above. “………how vital it is that social history is documented before it is lost.” Perfectly said.

By: Eddie Humphries

Eddie Humphries — Sun, 29 Jan 2023 11:47:31 +0000

Brilliant!! Thank you

By: Marilyn Lee

Marilyn Lee — Sun, 29 Jan 2023 11:22:46 +0000

A lovely tribute, and beautifully written.

By: Christine Swan

Christine Swan — Sun, 29 Jan 2023 08:41:23 +0000

This is a wonderfully detailed account and invaluable to any student if social history. Many of the place names are familiar to me too. I also had a weekly pilgrimage to visit my grandparents in Walthamstow after we moved to Kent. Their council house seemed huge to me but was like a museum as they shunned modern appliances -apart from a television.
I don’t have any memories of my earliest years when we lived in a Peabody flat but I developed the art of listening from a young age. My grandparents, aunts and uncles and my mum and dad, all lived to great ages. They all told stories and, if I asked, would talk for hours of their lives and times. It’s only relatively recently that I have come to realise how vital it is that social history is documented before it is lost. First hand accounts are invaluable. Not just for scholars but also because we should reflect on the resilient, incredible people and sense of community that existed in the East End despite the hardships of the time.
I enjoyed reading this very much, thank you GA.

By: andy.strowman1@gmail.com

andy.strowman1@gmail.com — Sun, 29 Jan 2023 08:04:29 +0000

Of a time long gone and as I mostly lived it.
Andy