George and Sandra Linney

Does anyone remember the Linneys who lived in ‘Iona’ in Leicester Road?   They left Laindon to live in America and I believe they came back for a visit probably about 1955-56.  Has anyone heard anything since?  Iona was a lovely rambling house with garden to match.

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  • Hi Anita, My brother remembers the name Pardoe. I was friends at school with Sheila and before I left we said we would write but we only had a few letter exchanges and when she didn’t reply.   I wrote to someone -don’t remember who- who told me the sad news. It hit me hard at the time and I often wondered what had happened.

    Seems amazing those “Trees” are still there – in a car park! Also we were amazed by the plaque on the train station wall saying Joan Sims lived there, apparently while we lived there. Does anyone remember her? George remembers her father the station master because he left LHR to go to school on the train every day at Leigh-on-sea.

    By Sandra Cartlidge (31/03/2015)
  • Hi Sandra.   Sylvie remembers Shirley as well at LHR and Shirley was a close friend of Barbara Pardoe.  Miss Jollyman and Mr Rees were twoof our many  teachers of ‘character’ that we all remember!

    I visited Sheila at her home when she was unwell and she was in the same hospital as my nan for recovery.  Very sad.

    By Anita Tibbles (30/03/2015)
  • There was a Doreen Gotobed at LHR – she’s on the 1958 photograph . My guess is Shirley was older.

    By Richard Haines (29/03/2015)
  • Hello all, my brother reckons as both of you think Shirley cannot have been at MC then it must have been at Laindon High Road. We too remember the humorous tag…”Shirley, go-to bed”, which he repeated to me as a young girl!

    He wants to know if any of you remember Ralph Dellow who he says WAS at MC.

    By Sandra Cartlidge (29/03/2015)
  • Hi Anita, George wonders if your sister would remember Shirley Gotobed at MC (if that is the right spelling but pronounced as spelt). Such an unusual name. Does she remember his teachers at LHR, Mr. Rees and Miss Jollyman?  

    We went to so many schools living in USA that it is difficult to remember everyone! I left school there at 18 and George too but he went on to University. Do you remember Sheila Cook? I was told she died not long after we left Laindon, at age 12, by someone I was writing to at the time.

    By Sandra Cartlidge (28/03/2015)
  • There can be only one Shirley Gotobed. The Gotobed family were of central European origin. They lived in a bungalow opposite the Homestead Stores in Berry Lane just south of Vowler Road. I cannot remember the name of the bungalow.

    I would be surprised if she went to Markham’s Chase. All the children in that area attended Langdon Hills. We lads, with our scintillating sense of humour, always referred to Shirley as Shirley go-to-bed.

    Editor: The name of the bungalow was ‘Lyme Regis’.

    By Alan Davies (28/03/2015)
  • Of incidental interest; there was a Gotobed at Langdon Hills Primary School when I was there during 1944 – 1951.

    By Gerald Jones (28/03/2015)
  • Hi Sandra – my sister is now uncertain as to whether it was LHR or MC !

    Today there was a meeting at the Manor Mission which my cousin and I went to. It’s always very  interesting and enjoyable not only for the heaps of old photos on show but meeting or hopefully spotting old Laindoners!  I spoke to David Ashton who was at LHR and mentioned George but he didn’t seem to remember being in the same class.

    I remember attending Brownies in the Manor Mission- brings back memories of long ago. By the way – parked in the car park near the ‘Trees’.

    By Anita Tibbles (21/03/2015)
  • Hello Anita.  I have spoken to George about your sister but he can’t recall her. Was that at the High Road or Markhams Chase?

    By Sandra Cartlidge (12/03/2015)
  • Hi Sandra – just had a conversation with my sister Sylvia in Western Australia.  George and Sylvia were in the same class – does George remember Sylvia?

    By Anita Tibbles (10/03/2015)
  • Hi – I think both families moved into Iona after you left.

    By Anita Tibbles (09/03/2015)
  • Hi Hazel and Anita, my brother knew a Roger Quinn, he gave him his scout hat when we left for America. His father was a policeman and they lived in the police houses. Would that be the same family? The other names we can’t recall.

    We think we do remember a bungalow further down Ulster Rd toward the High Road, presumably Mrs. Nunn? Did you live, more or less, in the middle of Lancaster Rd as I seem to remember a family with some boys thereabouts? Yes Anita, we have a younger sister, Dianne, who was six when we left.

    We were rather lost when we visited Laindon and so only went from the station to the Arterial Road. (We visited by train). Otherwise we didn’t have a clue where we were. If there are two poplar trees growing side by side in what is left of the garden I’m sure they must be the ones we used to climb. They were our favourites!

    Did your cousin and the Bradshaws move into Iona after we left? I know my parents rented it out, until the compulsory purchase. Of course we have no idea how long after that before it was torn down.

    By Sandra Cartlidge (06/03/2015)
  • Hello Sandra

    My cousin Trevor Hart with his brothers Colin and Terry lived in Walbrook next to Iona.  He popped in for a chat today.  They moved into Iona after the Bradshaws. In part of what remains of your garden behind the Laindon Doctors’ Surgery there are two Poplar trees, a Fir tree and an (Oak) which has grown big since! Did you have a younger sister?  

    Hello Hazel – My cousin remembers your brother Tommy.

    By Anita Tibbles (05/03/2015)
  • Hello Sandra, my maiden name was Hopkins.  We lived at Conway, Lancaster Road.  I do remember Mrs Syrett she would tell my brothers and I off if we were noisy going passed hers to our nan’s as her husband did night work. 

    Did you know the Lakes, Quinns and Fowlers that lived up there as well?  Also the old lady who had a room at my nans, she was Mrs Gibson ? dressed all in black and would wait at the bus stops in rush hour, get on the bus and only go a few stops and then get off.  She was well known around Laindon.

    P.S. My brothers were older than me Stephen and Tommy.  We were always at my nan’s and I remember Mrs Nunn who lived round the corner to you in Ulster road, she also sold her apples from her garden.

    By Hazel Hunter (04/03/2015)
  • Seeing an old map online, Lancaster Road was opposite Inverness Road and I do remember a bungalow on the corner. Mr and Mrs Syrett (right spelling)? lived on that road, did you know them? She made the most wonderful apple pie!

    Your nan and great nan must have been my mother’s friends and neighbours. My brother and I sold apples at the bottom of Ulster Road, as children, from the large orchard at Iona! May I ask your maiden name?

    I knew a Hazel Cutler from school. Many thanks Anita for the memories.

    By Sandra Cartlidge (03/03/2015)
  • George says hello, and we would love to know who Hazel Hunter’s nan was that we visited. We did visit one or two people with our mother when we came from the States on holiday in 1957. 

    By Sandra Cartlidge (02/03/2015)
  • My nan and great nan who Mrs Linney visited were Mrs Pickett and Mrs Noakes.  They lived in a bungalow called ‘Leighville’, in Lancaster Road on a corner with Ulster Road.  We could see Iona from their bungalow. 

    By Hazel Hunter (02/03/2015)
  • After all these years I thought you were maybe still in America and there you are here.  It’s so sad what they have done to Laindon.  This site is wonderful for catching up with our memories both of people and places!   I live local to Laindon and often have a ride around.  

    The meetings at the Laindon Library are very ‘happy’ occasions with ex and still Laindon residents meeting and discovering each other!

    By Anita Tibbles (28/02/2015)
  • Hi Anita, I thought you must be the girl I remember but being away from Laindon for so many years, memories dim! I do though remember Iona very well, a lovely place to live which was bought from us on a compulsory order for Basildon. It was a sheer fluke I came upon your page and you can imagine my surprise, especially as it was only posted this month.

    The Laindon site has brought back memories of my childhood there. There was not much left when we visited 8 years ago! BTW Iona was on Inverness Road, I believe Leicester Road was on the other side of Ulster Road which led down to the High Road?

    By Sandra Cartlidge (27/02/2015)
  • Hello, my brother George and I (Sandra) are living in the New Forest/Bournemouth area after coming back from America with our family in 1961. We visited Laindon about 8 years ago but of course Iona had been knocked down to make way for Basildon new town. Don’t remember surname Tibbles.

    By Sandra Cartlidge (26/02/2015)
  • Hello Sandra !   My maiden is Smith.  I use to play with you at Iona and we often went to Sunday School together.

    By Anita Tibbles (26/02/2015)
  • My great granddad built Iona & I do remember the family going to America & also them coming back & visiting my nan but don’t know about them after that.

    By Hazel Hunter (10/02/2015)

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