West Silvertown Online

	West Silvertown Online
	Stan's Gallery

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Stan Dyson was brought up and lived in West Silvertown for many years and even though he now lives in Laindon in Essex he continues to have a great affection for the area and those who lived there years ago.

Stan sent us this collection of pictures which were delighted to share with the present residents of West Silvertown and other visitors to this site. They include pictures taken at the Reunions of former residents which have been held in recent years.We have made these photographs large enough to be viewed in some detail and the page will, therefore, take a few moments to load. Please be patient! If you wish you can see an enlargement of any photograph simply by clicking it.

Later we obtained a copy of Stan’s book Silvertown Life - a boy’s story. Written in 2004 as a purely private record for his grandchildren, the 86 page book has now been set up with pictures for people to see on this site.

At the end of the book Stan comments: "Without a shadow of doubt my quality of life and financial position are far in excess of what I could ever have imagined back in those 1950's schoolboy days. Yet, if it were at all possible would I choose to go back to the Silvertown slums, those poor utility days and live it all again, not changing a single thing? You bet I would!”

If you can tell us more about any of the pictures, or about the times covered in the book, or would like to contact Stan, please contact the Webmaster - see our Contacts Page

We are grateful to Newham Archives and Local Studies Library for their kind pemission to use those of the pictures on this page which are their copyright.

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Stan's Book This is a fascinating and humourous account of Stan’s life in West Silvertown from his birth in 1945 until he moved to Basildon in 1964. Written in 2004 as a purely private record for his grandchildren, the 89 page book has now been set up with pictures for people to see on this site - click the thumbnail opposite. Note: The file is in .pdf format and to view it you will need an Acrobat Reader. This can be obtained free of charge by clicking the "Get Acrobat Reader" icon opposite
A larger, more comprehensive, 190 page illustrated version of Silvertown Life – a boys story is available in paperback direct from the publishers AuthorHouse by logging onto their website and entering Silvertown Life in the search area on the Book Shop menu. The price is £7.20. It is also available from Amazon & Book Shops ISBN number 9781434390882. A hardback version is also available ISBN number 9781434390899. TOP
Celebrating the Coronation 1953
Fancy Dress Competiton in Lyle Park	Westwod Road Float in Knights Road	At the Fancy Dress Competiton in the school hall
Tea Party for kids in school hall	Westwood Road Fancy Dress and 'Indian' Float
Westwood Road 'Indians' Coronation Float in Knights Road	Westwood Road 'Indians' Coronation Float in North Woolwich Road	Westwood Road 'Indians' Coronation Float - Stan Dyson, Alan Brown and Tommy Batterbee
Eastwood Road - coronation photo	Cranbrook Road - coronation party	Cranbrook Road - coronation party
Barnwood Road - coronation picture
Top of Page Enjoying a Beano
Jubilee Pub Beano 1919	Mens Jubilee Pub Beano - mid 1950s	Kids outside Jubilee Public House early morning to catch money thrown from coach
Mens Pub Beano - early 1950s	Womens Jubilee Pub Beano in 1940s	Ladies Jubilee Pub Beano - mid 1950s
Jubilee Public House 1958	Jubilee Public House 1963
Top of Page Lyle Park
1950s	1959	1991
	Lyle Park was opened on 24 July 1924 by Sir Leonard Lyle, JP on land which was given to West Ham by the Golden Syrup manufacturer Abraham Lyle & Son who in 1921 merged with Henry Tate and Sons who had moved from Liverpool to Thames Wharf where they manufactured sugar cubes. The newly merged company was known as Tate and Lyle - see below for more details.
	The two pictures on the left were taken in 1991. That on the right shows Stan Dyson by the War Memorial in the 1980s For more recent pictures of Lyle Park - click here .
Top of Page Bombing the Docks - September 1940
		Left and Below: Dornier 17 bombers of the Luftwaffe over London 1940
	Click here for 2004 picture taken from the same spot
Oriental Road, July 1942	Mill Road 1944 - taken from the corner of Pirie Street. PC 'Pimple' Woodward and the Rev Joe Stevens of St Marks Church
Top of Page Before and After the War
1940	The 1940 picture clearly shows the houses in Bradfield Road and Knights Road which were destroyed by bombing - see 1945 picture which also shows the Ram PH which has had its top two levels removed	1945
Top of Page Floods...
Saville Road 1953	Saville Road 1953	Albert Road 1953
Albert Road 1957	....and an explosion*
After the explosion 1917	The crater in 1923 - slighty right of top centre	Memorial to those who died in the explosion
In 1917 more than 50 tons of TNT blew up in the Brunner Mond & Co. works in Silvertown causing serious death and destruction. See also Keith Lloyd's short stories Weapons of Mass Destruction (.pdf 357 kb)* and First Tea Party (.pdf 319kb) Kathy Taylor, Manager at North Woolwich Railway Museum, has written a very interesting account of the floods in 1953 which we are very pleased to be able to post here. Entitled The Great Flood of Canning Town (.pdf, 1.46 mb) the account refers also to the floods in Silvertown.
Top of Page West Silvertown over the years
1921	1930	1933
1933	1933	1934
1 1945	1950	1950
1951	1951	1958
1961*	1962	1985
2004	Evelyn Road 1951	Cranbrook Road 1950s
Barnwood Road 1959	Barnwood Road 1921	Eastwood Road 1921
Knight's Road 1970s	Bone sacks in John Knights, trolley buses and shops	Boxley Street 1959
The Ram Public House	* From an e-mail from the great grand-daughter of the owner (Susan) we know that the grocery and provisions store on the corner was J.R Pattison and Son. The store was in the family until 1962.
Top of Page Silvertown
Connaught Road 1904	Silvertown Park 1939. After the war the park was known locally as Itchycoo Park	Saville Road
Looking down Andrews Street towards Della Mura shop on the far corner	Parker Street 1944	St Marks, Silvertown in the 1950s
	The aerial photograph to the left shows Silvertown as it was in 1949 (including the war damage). Looking eastwards it extends from Silvertown Station area right up to North Woolwich and includes the whole area of what is now London City Airport. The aerial picture on the right looks west and shows much the same area.
Silvertown in the 1960s	Silvertown in the 1960s
Top of Page Silvertown Viaduct
1939	1939	The Silvertown Viaduct
1950	1959
1974	Winston Churchill on the Silvertown Viaduct 1942	Another view of the Silvertown Viaduct
Top of Page Silvertown Station
1884	1958	1975
Top of Page West Silvertown School
1920	1920	1925
1925	1927	1928
The 1925 picture showing adults (above left) was in fact taken many years later - it shows staff working at Pinchin Johnson. It is included because the girl at the extreme left of the front row also appears in the 1925 school photograph (extreme left) and the young girl second from the right in the top row of the school photo also appears at the extreme right in the adult photo.		1954
Top of Page North Woolwich Road
1895	1950s	1939
1993	2004
Top of Page Albert Road
1890s	1899	Early 1900s
1930's	1950	1950s
1950s	Albert Road & North Woolwich Park from Glenister Street & Storey Street - 1950s	1950
Top of Page Tate and Lyles
Tate and Lyle's have a long association with Silvertown. It was in 1881 that Abram Lyle & Sons from Greenock set up a plant to make sugar and golden syrup at Plaistow Wharf. In 1921 they merged with Henry Tate & Sons, already established in Silvertown, to form Tate and Lyle. As Stan comments "I think Silvertown, Canning Town and North Woolwich owe T&L a great debt of gratitude for employment throughout the 20th and now into the 21st Century. They certainly kept both me and Joan's family employed. My Dad worked there for 48 years and I've still got T&L Director Peter Runge's letter of commendation for bravery under the terrible German bombardment on the night of 7th September 1940. All the apprentices went through my Dad and only last year I was speaking to three guys in their 50's who told me they had all worked at Tates as apprentices and all remembered him instructing them on the maintenance of centrifugal machines in the 1960's. I worked there, as did my wife Joan and two of her sisters. Despite closure of many of the large Silvertown factories T&L are still the employment mainstay of the area. "As well providing employment T&L also very generously gave us Lyle Park in July 1924 - see above. This is a prominent leisure facility in West Silvertown which has kept generations occupied and amused".
1958	1967	2006
Left: Tate's management cricket team during a match against the West Indies to celebrate the opening of T&L's Sports Ground at Manorway. The 1930s picture features directors Phillip Napier and Colonel F A Sudbury and other senior figures such as Messrs Howlett, Phipps, Caton, as well as Stan's Dad in the back row next to the umpire
	Left: A 1955 picture featuring the T&L Silvertown and T&L Liverpool football teams with a various management figures - for more details click the picture to the right
Right: 1950's picture of the Tate & Lyle 1st eleven football team. The two non-players in the back row are Len Chegwidden, T&L Sports Club Secretary (middle) and Stan Phipps, team manager (far right)
Tate and Lyle's Thames Refinery 1880	Tate and Lyle in 1880 - looking into Thames Refinery main gate through the level crossing before the building of the houses in Albert Road.	1983 picture showing the Tate and Lyle's buildings in their centenary year
In the 1950s
Top of Page Westwood Road
1958 - Glen Pattison, George Beautyman, Henry Taylor, Terry Beautyman and Stan Dyson	1950s	1963
1963	2005
Top of Page Woolwich Park



Top of Page Rathbone Street and Market
1925	1925	1956
1959	1959	Market - 1950s
1947	1961	The pictures to the left are of Mrs Olley's famous pie and mash shop -one of the food icons of Rathbone Street in Canning Town. Mrs Olley features in both pictures with her daughter in the colour picture on the right
Bacon Bills in Rathbone Street in the early 1950s. The pictures to the right show the proprietor John Ripp and his wife and also John's mother, Mrs Ripp
	Rons Records was the only place in Rathbone Street selling records in the 50's & 60's. This picture of Ron, the owner, Liz Jolley & John Thompson was taken in 1963, just after the demise of the old Rathbone Street Market. Liz & John helped out on the stall. Stan remembers Ron as a great guy.
1960	1980
Top of Page Levi Lee - The Roundabout Man
Levi Lee	Levi Lee with his roundabout	Levi Lee with one of his horses
Click to enlarge	Levi (Leo as he was known back in the 50's) used to walk his horse & cart all the way from Aveley in Essex to Canning Town & Silvertown where he toured the streets calling 'old rags for china'. He also had a kid's horse & cart penny-a-ride merry-go-round. Levi had an excellent Army career as a sergeant in the British Army in Burma. He had a wonderful way with horses - used to break-in and train horses for the Army.
Top of Page Reunions 2002 and 2003



Richie Coke, David Pocklington and Alfie Pinder	Stan and George	Stan and George
Top of Page The Dyson Family
Stan's Nan (left) and Mum in 1931	Stan Dyson at the River Steps at the end of Bradfield Road, 1991	Christmas 1978 - John, Kathleen, Stan & Roger
1953	1956
Top of Page Miscellany
		Brownies - early 1950s
St Barnabus Christmas Party 1949
Docks Kids Party in MIll Road 1958	North Woolwich Police Station 1900	Eastwood Road 1921
Typical kids Birthday party - early 1950's	Murkoff's Ice Cream shop in Canning Town - famous for its distinctive vanilla ice cream made according to a family recipe. Right: Mr Murkoff (in the white coat) with his two brothers
Woolwich Ferry - north side	Woolwich Ferry - south side	Ferry crew in the 1950s
Green Street 1905	Canning Town with Imperial Cinema at top left	Boys Tea Party 1951 - Festival of Britain
Star Lane 1900	West Silvertown Teenagers in Pub - circa 1962	Freemasons Road 1912
Woolwich Foot Tunnel	Woolwich Foot Tunnel	Canning Town 1965
Canning Town 1934	Canning Town 1960s	Canning Town 1964
Bell and Anchor Public House	Chapel Street 1930	Stratford 1900
Stratford 1905	Woolwich Prison Hulks