Hi Dave
Another interesting find! There is a Flood photo in one of Geoff Barsby's books showing the owner of Green Glades, Mr Liddiard, traversing the area between the two buildings using a pair of kitchen chairs as stilts to keep his feet dry. However the gap is narrower as quite a substantial extention had been added to the original Cricksea. Green Glades sticks in my memory because when I delivered a Greetings Telegram to a wedding reception there, sometime in 1954 the best man gave me a half-crown tip---more than my afternoon's wages! My sister also remembers being a bridesmaid there at 'Smiler' Talbot's wedding on Boxing Day 1959. So it appears that Green Glades must have kept going into the mid-60s. I think the petrol station/garage/car sales was a Jack King enterprise, his eldest son Denis was the proprietor also the name Steve's has King associations i.e Steve's Taxis.
In your enhanced picture of the Cricksea Annexe if you look level with the left gable-end you can clearly see the top of Creek House above the Small Gains Creek wall.

We have a picture of Mr Liddiard and his chairs on site Graham.

Click here

Janet

The smaller building was where we used to go to Georgette Juveniles dancing lessons in the late fifties.

The smaller building was used in the late 50s early 60s as a dancing school Georgette Juveniles. I noticed in the picture the Salvation Army Hall has not yet been built which was directly behind.

My mother went to Canvey Island frequently as a child, probably between 1920 & 1930 (she was born in 1915, in London). One of her aunts apparently ran a teahouse (Matilda?) surname McDermott, and an uncle was in charge of the bus service at one time. By the time of the 1950's floods, she had not been there for some time and it is possible that records may have been lost. She also spoke of an aunt who had a duck which had a wooden leg, due to the great skill of a local vet, and the fact that the duck was a very good layer. Anyway, I would be looking for McDermotts, (quite a few), who lived on the island during the 1920's and also maybe the 1930's.

I now live in Australia, and have done since the early 1960's, so do not have easy access to this information.

Any memories of this time would be welcome, as my mother obviously felt that her times there were very special.

Claire adds 09/11/08:-

I have recently realised that my mother's family, on her father's side, may have still been the McDermot-Roe (not sure about the case). I could give you chapter and verse about the McDermot-Roes, but time is limited. Their history is listed on the internet. In any case, my great grandfather, or my grandfather, (I'm not quite sure which), dropped the "Roe", and became McDermott, probably early in the 20th century. This does not mean that further generations on Canvey Island would have gone the same way, but certainly some ties may have been lost. I would still value any information.

Dave,
Somebody has knicked all the comments of this page!
Graham

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Hi Graham - where have they published them?

In the floods and after, the St GEORGE'S Ambulance had a first aid station at this little bungalow beside Greenglades, I was just a cadet at the time, we used to treat the sea wall workers from broken bones, to cut fingers, and one case a huge boil on this chaps neck, poor man, and I think we used PONDS cold cream tut tut I remember that a baby was born there and the chaps from St George's delivered it, it was in the Daily Mirror at the time and named another cadet a boy named, - ? ELLIOT, Lorie OLIVER RAN THE POST and St GEORGE'S Ambulance brigade was run by Mr and Mrs MOORE .