I`m seeking to contact my infant school music teachers from Hartley School, Hartley Avenue, East Ham E6, London.  A female music teacher and a male pianoist teaching between 1970-1971 any names? contact me.  

This is a story written by my Late Great Uncle Horace (Ted) Barber of the beginning of his life as a tugboat man on the River Thames. Eventually he came to own a fleet of tugs.

" I was born on 4th January 1892.

When I was thirteen and in the Ex 7th Class I went to school in Stratford one Saturday to pass what was known as the Labour Examination. If you passed you were entitled to go to work at the age of thirteen instead of fourteen. Having passed, I made up my mind I would go on the water the day I was fourteen. On that day I strolled down to the Victoria Dock.

There were two barges moored in between two Dolphins, which supported the gangway. Also it was by tugs crew to relieve. In fact it was used by everyone to get in and out of their craft awaiting to go go up the river or in the docks. This was private property and belonged to William Cory and sons Ltd.

With Speedway celebrating it's 80th year, and West Ham 80th Anniversary of the opening of both the sport and the stadium at the end of July, I though it would be nice to go back 40 years and see what the Hammers were doing in the 40th year of Speedway racing.

When the 1968 season opened, the team had returned to celebrate 40 years of Speedway in Great Britain.

I am currently researching my family tree and within papers which were left by my nan there is a paper cutting with a photo in respect of the funeral of Bill Smith from the late 70's or early 80's.  No one seems to know how this Bill was related to my nan but by the surname and timing I believe that Bill was my nan's first cousin.  The cutting reads as follows;

"Hundreds of gipsies from all over the country came to Stratford for the huge funeral of Bill Smith, 59, who lived in Clays Lane.  Car loads followed the horses drawn hearse to West Ham cemetery for the service.

If I am right that Bill was my nan's first cousin his gf would have been George Smith (c1864) and his uncle would have been William Edmund Smith (1886) born in Stratford.

This page will answer frequently asked questions (FAQs) about the Newham Story 

List of FAQs:

When the Keir Hardie Estate was built after World War Two, the turnings were named after Civil Defence Personnel who were killed in the War. HAMMERSLEY AVENUE named after Fireman John Stanley Hammersley killed by enemy action 1940. MURRAY SQUARE named after Fireman Arthur Murray killed by enemy action 1940.

Opening Ceremony It was built to provide a more reliable connection between North and South Woolwich, as the bad winter fogs often stopped the Woolwich Free Ferry from operating. It also provided a route for services, including a 20” water main with risers coming up through a number of shafts. The tunnel owed much to the efforts of Will Crooks MP (1852-1921), hero of the 1889 docks strike and later Chairman of the LCC's Bridges Committee.

The tunnel was commissioned by the LCC It was designed and built by Sir Maurice Fitzmaurice (1861-1924) chief engineer to LCC who also designed the Rotherhithe Tunnel (1908) and Vauxhall Bridge (1906). An earlier tunnel was begun under the Thames here in 1876 by J.H. Gratehead (1844-1896) but was not completed.

Abbey Road, Probably the most Historic Road in Newham?  No one knows when the first man or woman walked down the route that runs from the high ground that we now know as West Ham Lane to the marshlands at Stratford. 

My Grandfather, Bill Taylor, started the Marina Boxing Club in 1934. The club was in two old warehouses which were in the large yard behind his houses in Trinity Street. You had to walk through some big gates at the side of 2 Trinity Street to get into the yard where the club was.

Inside the first warehouse, about 300 people could be seated around the boxing ring. My grandfather bought the seats from an old cinema or music hall, in Borough High Street, that had just closed down. They were metal lift- up seats that screwed to the floor and were upholstered in red velvet.