Are you an ex Wivenhoe resident? If so would you like to contact old friends or get old friends to contact you? This page is an experiment to see if there is any interest in a page for ex residents to post some details or comments.
If you would like to post something send an e-mail to: ekraft@talk21.com
Margo (Goodin) Saunders: I lived in Wivenhoe in the 1970s 1980s and still have very fond memories of the village, its shops, its pubs, and its people and whole atmosphere. On the other side of us, at 62 The Avenue, lived Sara Wilkinson (a local artist), her husband Chris (an academic) and their daughter Florence , who was the same age as my son Brett. I believe that they are still in Wivenhoe, but no longer at that address. We left Wivenhoe in 1989 and my son Brett (who was 2 when we left) enjoyed a return visit to the village a couple of years ago.
By the way, the Wivenhoe artists live on in Canberra: I am still the proud owner of 2 bowls by Elaine Alt and 2 paintings by Michael Heard. My ex-husband, who lives nearby, has the Tessa Spencer-Pryce paintings and another Michael Heard and some amazing furniture from the antique shop that used to operate from one of the sheds down by the Shipyard.
My e-mail: margos@aapt.net.au
John Perkins: Hi. I have reached the age when I would love to relive my younger days by finding any old friends of my Wivenhoe days. I haven’t got much hope I suppose as I am talking about early thirties up to the war 1939. My name is John Perkins,used to be called Jack. My father was a bit of a trader, with horse and cart, greengrocery trade. I lived at 7 West Street, then moved up the road to front of Colne House where we had a shop, then we moved to the rear of Colne House in Station Road. My final Wivenhoe home was Angelsea House ( I think Queens Road) where the post office was on the corner.
The names of friends I remember are Peter Sainty, Peter Goven, David Dan, Curtis family, Ted Barnes. Then there were Pascoes, Sparlings, Eric and Peter and of course Bob Bowes and Roy Durrel.
Of late I have been reading the blogs covering Wivenhoe but I must admit it seems a bit foreign to me who remembers the university as the Wivenhoe House where there was a good fish pond which enticed us boys.
John Perkins
rjperkins@xtra.co.nz
Ruth Weedon: Ethel Watsham was my godmother. My grandparents lived in Rectory Road, my grandmother Selina Gore was active during WW2. She and others started ‘The Canteen’ down on the Quay to provide cups of tea and sandwiches to servicemen who were in passing.
Ethel Watsham visited my grandparents every Wednesday evening for many years for a game of cribbage which always ended in a row but which never ceased to be enjoyable to all.
I have a few old newspaper cuttings and programmes of choral evenings which my grandfather, WHJ Gore was involved in.
Peter Cox: Click here
Rowena Harrison (nee Lewis) Just to let you know that I thoroughly enjoyed a "toddle" around your website about Wivenhoe! However, I have to admit that I didn’t recognise most of it really.
We lived there for a couple of years in about ’72 / ’74, in a largeish bungalow on Ernest Road (a few house up, on the right.) It was called RoJan back then (after my sister and I) and had a double driveway "in and out" – it was still there when my sister and I visited Wivenhoe some years ago (1994, I think!). We stayed in the Park Hotel on the corner for a couple of nights (where I used to illicitly buy my cigarettes from the machine ‘back when’) and hired a car in Brightlingsea, where we went to school for those few years, and drove around the area and to Clacton etc (where we’d all dash off to in school hols etc). We had a conducted tour of the school, much changed but still recognizable enough to trigger many memories.
My parents were Richard and Rhona Lewis – Dad worked in London whilst Mum was a housewife. We were Rowena and Janice Lewis. Our best friends at the time were Ann Gilpin (Jan’s best friend) and her older sister Janet and Margaret Gilpin (mine – although Janet was killed in a car accident in 72/73). We caught up with both Ann and Margaret on our visit, both still living in the area – their parents were still in the same house as when we had lived there. I still have old photos from when I was a kid there but can’t recall the surnames of most of my friends at the time – several were living in Brightlingsea or between. I do remember the name of one old boyfriend – Les Hopkins (he was the young brother of the Gilpin sisters’ mother) and was quite disappointed that he was away (in Europe, I think) when we visited. We had a super evening at the Park Hotel and heard news of various people – although I have to admit I can’t actually remember who now! I do recall that we left some money for the display in the pub – Jan left South African Rands and I left Zimbabwe dollars! We left Wivenhoe and moved to Cape Town in South Africa in 1974 (or 5) and after several years around South Africa, moved to then Zimbabwe/Rhodesia in 1980 – and am still here. My sister, Janice, remains based on the West Coast near Cape Town where she owns several business but is in Thailand at present where she and her partner have opened a coffee shop in Phuket.
Incidentally, it was whilst looking for either of the Gilpin sisters on facebook out of curiosity = old age catching up – thinking of my youth, haha = and not finding them that I googled Wivenhoe and found your site, which i then spent a couple of very pleasant hours looking around.
Thanx for the memories – it was great to see all the changes but still some of the old places! Most of my family are still living in UK, including my kids (my youngest lives in Waltham Abbey) and I hope to visit soon – your web-site has ensured I will certainly visit Wivenhoe if at all possible.
Rowena Harrison (nee Lewis)
Jeremy Ray
Came across your site today whilst looking for information on the sailing ship Cap Pilar. It brought back so many happy memories. I lived the first 8 years of my life in Wivenhoe. Im now 65. We lived at Mariners, Anglesey Road.
My brother and I spent our time on the river during the holidays. The family had a 20 foot motor boat moored outside the Rose & Crown pub. We would often go as far afield as Clacton on Sea, Walton on the Naze and the river Blackwater in her. We would row our pram dingy up to the mill at the end of the Roman river. Go across to Rowhedge and during the sailing club regattas ferry people back and forth across the river.
I remember Cooks ship yard well. The electrification of the railway and the fun we had down on the marches. And of course seeing Cap Pilar left to rot. We would often spend time exploring her, although most of her decks had gone by then.
I remember the fish wharf, where two, then, brand new lovely wooden trawlers plied their trade from. Fisher Girl and Essex Girl, I bet no one knew what that name would come to mean fifty years later! I wonder what ever became of those great vessels.
Well thats enough rambling from me, thanks for rekindling those happy times.
Jeremy Ray