Over the past ten years the Creekmouth Preservation Society has collected countless memories from former residents of the village. Here you can read a small selection of nostalgic recollections of life in Creekmouth.
Doris Morris (nee Yeowell) (b.1929) remembers Creekmouth as like ‘Southend’. A day out at Creekmouth “I was born in 1929 and lived in Westminster Gardens. Creekmouth was like Southend to us, a nice place for a day out! Mum used to make rock cakes for us to take, and we would have big bottles of
“We lived in Creekmouth until about 1930, when I was 11 or so and I can’t remember anyone having a car. We kept rabbits and a few chickens. My dad, like a lot of people, had an allotment. My grandfather Soper kept pigs. He had pig styes out in the field. They used to keep a
Hippyrinosaur in the Reeds “I went down the river a lot. Grandfather used to say ‘Don’t go in the reeds or the Hippyrinosour will get you !’ The reeds were along the River Roding and there was a Sandy Beach just past the power station. The main traffic on the Thames were the huge colliers
“When my father first moved to Creekmouth, in about 1878, he worked as a boatman for John Bennet Lawes, who owned the row of cottages where we lived. Most of our neighbours were also employed at Lawes Factory and at each end of the row lived the manager and the under – manager, who were unrelated,
The sounds of the River “From the front door of our cottage, which was next to the Mission Hall, you could have thrown a stone into the River Roding, so as you can appreciate that the first smells and sounds I can remember came in from the river. The sight of the big green crested
My Nan and Grandad Clark lived in No. 11, next door to the Mission Hall. My Grandfather’s name was William. He was a tugmaster and worked for Lawes. He got a cottage when they were newly-built. He had just got married. He used to tow barges down the river and was away an awful lot.
Camping Out “My Children and Grandchildren would have loved the life then. Lots of fields to play in , jumping ditches to see who could jump the furthest. We were lucky: fields to play in, trees to climb, no traffic; we were always outside. Other than Scarlet Fever and Diphtheria we never ailed for anything.
Don Lane recalls an occasion on which he and his father rode their tandem to Romford: “When you came in the front door of number 14 Creekmouth Cottages there was a passage with a room on one side where Dad kept his tandem in winter. Going down the passage there was a kitchen and living
Les Stone, a founder member of the Creekmouth Preservation Society, remembers early life in the village. ‘We had a two bedroom cottage. There were no carpets and big cracks in the doors. Mice and Beetles running about, that was the way of life in those days. There were seven boys and one sister, all in
Charlie Hussey recalls a particular trip to Barking as a young man. ‘One Mothers’ Day, dad sent me and my sister to Barking with some money to buy flowers, we went there, but instead of flowers, we brought ice cream and spent all the money. Returning home on the bus, we realised we were in
