Are you a writer,artist, photographer, poet,local historian or do have any other talents that you would like to contribute to Isle of Dogs Life.
Why not use the site to showcase your talent ?
Do you live or work on the Isle of Dogs ? let us hear about your story.
Contact us on isleofdogslife@gmail.com
Isle of Dogs Life 
Great to see a site devoted to the IoD. I’ve lived here for nearly 20 years and coincidentally went to college on the island a few years before. There’s been a few changes in that time! I’d be happy to contribute in some way.
thanks Paul,
This website is open for all contributions, would appreciate any stories or old photos you may have from your time on the island.
http://www.islandhistory.co.uk
Thanks again
Hallo all Islanders. My tribe the “Sprackling” clan came onto the Island about the 1820s and I understand that most have now vacated to other pastures.
I was born in Glengall Grove in March 1940 and my wife came onto the Island via Mellish Street in 1938. During our very early years it was necessary to walk around the bomb craters and falling down buildings to get to our schools, mine being Harbinger Road and my wife into outer space to Bethnal Green, I was lucky to belong to the Harbinger School football team and we were the league champions in 1950. I still have the photos and the medal, which I will shortly be sending to the trust. We did not have shorts.. just mums old bloomers and our shinguards were any old book we could stuff down dads socks. Soccer boots..sorry not yet invented. All this plus walking from Harbinger Road School to Hackney Marshes or Vickki park in all the snow and slush.. Oh what memories.
I have to mention Harbinger School as it was a luxury to attend. Free milk. Very wholesome dinners, large dollop of malt every day (We all used the same spoon) It took away the pain when “Nitty Nora” visited.. with her steel comb. After dipping same into a bucket of disinfectine she pulled it through our hair… looking for livestock..which she found many times but these were eaten by the lice that had come for the ride.
Glengall Grove Seconday Scool was also a pleasure because I became the milk monitor and also worked for the caretaker doing boiler duties. As I lived opposite the school I was offered the job of ringing the large school bell on top of the belfry. It was just the same as pulling on the long ropes which are used in churches. For this five day week part time job I was paid the large sum of two shillings and sixpence. A fortune to us kids in 1954.
After doing various jobs and chasing many girls during two seasons at Butlins Holiday Camp in Clacton I followed my father into the docks as a stevedore where I worked from 1960-1966. Made a lot of friends and made use of all the 26 pubs that were in use on the Island. Could not break the record of having been thrown out of every one…had to leave that to somebody else.
Onwards and upwards to the next chapter when Maggie Thatcher arrived to move all the ships to Tilbury I don’t know if she knew, or if she cared that a way of life, a community, generations of good people were about to go through a change that would forever alter the East End Landscape and force the Cockney character further out into the suburbs.
My wife and our three children moved to the trees and pastures of Hadleigh, Essex in the 1970s but it was not the same and so we decided on another life and emigrated to Australia where we have lived for the past 38 years.
Life is strange.. the Isle of Dogs was considered the last place to be but now everybody wants to live there….I hope it does not sink.
I hope to hear from lost friends. My name is Harry “Nobby” Sprackling and my wifes name is Joan Bailey. I lived in a prefab at 32B Glengal Grove (The Banjo) and my wife lived in her fathers house at 125 Mellish Street. Our sons are Paul, Lloyd and Dean. When we married at Christ Church in 1965 we lived opposite the church in the masionettes.
Best Wishes from Down Under.
Thanks Harry and Joan for your memories, and I am sure many will remember their schooldays on the Island.
Glad you are following the site “Down Under”.
I was born in 1947 and lived in Kingfield Street until I married in 1969. I attended Cubitt Town School. Other activities included Brownies at Cubitt Town School Hall, helping with the Cubs (at the Dockland Settlement) and, in much later years, helping at Island History Open Days . My mother was a very committed volunteer with the Island History Trust (she received an MBE in 2004). Jan Hill (nee Price)
“Jan, like you I attended the lovely Cubitt Town school, leaving there at the age of 9 to move to a tiny village in Oxfordshire. What a shock that was.
My family, the Browns, lived in Kingfield St almost directly opposite. My grandad, George, was a docker and he and my nan, Nellie, had eight children in that house!. My Mum was Gladys. She met my Dad in Faringdon, Oxordshire, when she was evacuated in WW11. On my birth certificate the address of my parents is shown as Kingfield Street – somehow I didn’t notice that until recent years! My Auntie Lily lived in the house until 2006 when she passed away aged 88. It had been her home for 70 years. I am living there again. If you ever get back to the Street, I’d love to meet you. You can email me at caroleiod@gmail.com.
P.S. You may wonder how I now have the surname Brown. I changed my name in honor of my Mum and her fight against an awful disease she got when she was only 20. It made me realise the fighting spirit of the Browns and many other Islanders. I am so proud of the rich heritage and the people who lived there.
Looking forward to visiting in 2018 when I come over for holiday….My 5th Great grandfather was George Gwilt
Hi Kim,
I am sure you will have a great time and such interesting family connections.
Both sides of my family were born and bred on the I of D. My fathers parents and grandparents, came up from Wales in the 1880s and settled on the Island. My Grandfather, Richard Jones, and two of his brothers, William and Edward, all played for Millwall Football club prior to the First World War. My Grandfather also went on to play for Wales. My mother was born on the Island in 1901. Her family name was Draper, and she was one of eleven children. Her parents died while still in their forties, leaving the seven surviving children to fend for themselves, which they did, with the help of “Good Neighbors.” I don’t know how for how long the Drapers had been on the Island. As a boy, I heard tales of the boxers, Teddy Baldock and Ernie Jarvis, and of the legendary Millwall goalkeeper, “Tiny” Joyce. I am happy to find this site.
Hi David,
Fascinating family history, thank you for sharing.
I first started working on the Island back in 1989 in offices on the now demolished Heron Quays. I lived variously at Fergusons Wharf, and Newell Street and then out in the Royals at Beckton with my Offices moving from Pepper Street to 30 Marsh Wall back to Lanark Square and then to Orchard Place. I have been living in Sweden for 10 years and moved away from Docklands to Bristol in 2003.
I am re launching my old Company and seeking offices and a flat back on the Island.
http://www.realrld.com/
Hi Roger,
Sorry for the delay in replying.
You certainly know the area well, the best of luck with your new endeavors.