Another picture from Norman Chisman’s slide collection. This time of Canvey Junior School formally Long Road school or Canvey County. The school was opened in January 1938. It was probably Long Road School at the time this picture was taken. You can see the siren on the left of the picture so it must be after 1953. Can anyone give us a date?
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I’m not sure but I think the sirens were originally used during the war so the picture could be dated any time after September 1938.
I’m pretty sure you’re right Maureen. I was at the school from 1942 – 1948 and the sirens sometimes sounded during the war years and we would have to go into the shelters on the field behind the school.
I definitely remember hearing the siren in the floods, don’t know if it was that one though.
The “siren” in front of Canvey County junior school was, in fact an electricity transformer mounted between two telegraph poles (I attended that school in the 1940’s)-I remember walking past it many times, I’m sure it remained there for some time after I left school and I think it was still there when my daughter attended the school. The main siren was,of course, outside the old council offices in Long Road.
You’re probably right, Ian. Coming from the Leigh Beck end of the Island, as a child I never really went to the Village end. I remember there was a siren on the bare ground next to Maurice Road in the High Street
Fair comment Janet-I too have done some further research on Canvey’s sirens but they all seem to be mounted on top of the crossbar however,the object pictured in the photo taken in front of the Long Road school is suspended underneath the crossbar and after further recollections I believe that object to be a junction box,but,always open to further comment!
You are probably right about the electricity transformer Ian, but it still looks like a siren at the top. I will check out where the sirens were during the war.
I have been told from a reliable source that it is a siren outside the school.
I remember that BOX next to our Junior School my father said it was for electricity, as I was scared of the sound of an air raid siren , the one on Canvey was at the Fire station in long road that one also sounded on the night of the floods, I think I remember one at the Hall near Small Gains Corner
It may well have been a siren but if it was it never worked,believe me I would have noticed.I started school here in 1943 when I was 5(or just under actually) then went to Leigh Beck for a while,then back to Long Road in 1947 until I left to go abroad with my parents in 1949. It was then grandly named Long Road County Primary School,and the headmaster was Mr Benson,I still have the letter from him informing me that I had passed the 11 plus exam and telling me who the others were who had passed. Geoff Graydon
It does not look anything like the sirens. This has an almost square black box suspended between the two poles. The sirens were round objects. There were many electricity transformers on Canvey similar to this one.
I don’t recall exactly where the siren was however, you could hear it no matter where you were in the school. Yes, and then it would be off to the brick and concrete shelters built around the playing field, with a teacher saying…..”single file, no running”. We played in those shelters after the war too, they always smelled bad!!!
I’m ashamed to say that I am a bit of an ARSE (Air Raid Siren Enthusiast)..! I have restored and operated several over the years and therefore, I can say that the structure on the poles is definitely NOT a siren and is in fact an electrical transformer. For proof, just google Gent or Carter siren (the makers of the WW2 sirens) and you will see. Hope that helps.
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