John (Known as Jack) Rose

Master Baker at Cottis Bakery in Laindon for over forty Years


Click above to hear the recording

Recently some old tape recordings made in 1985 by a group called Basildon Heritage came to light. The staff were tasked to record local residents memories of their lives in and around the areas of this district. Imagine the surprise I had when Ken Porter realised my uncle was one of these interviewees and offered me the chance to borrow the tape.To actually hear his voice after so long was very emotional, he died only a few years after the recording. Nobody in the family even knew he had even been interviewed so his son Sid who still lives locally was also delighted to hear his fathers voice again.

Jack Rose was the master baker at Cottis’ for over 40 years and on the tape he describes how he came to work at the bakery with Ray Cottis in the 1920’s, met and married my fathers sister and raised his family here in Laindon. The family knew he came from Dorking and was adopted when young but little else of his background was known as he appeared not to talk about his upbringing in an orphanage in that area. Reading the transcript and listening to the tape we have now learned a great deal more about his early life in Surrey and the history of his family. Until now his sons and myself had not been able to confirm details for the family tree. Recent investigations have now filled in some of the details which without this tape we would have never been able to confirm but now have enabled us to add the details he gave in the interview to our family history.

As a close family ( we all lived in close proximity in Northumberland Avenue together with grandparents from the 1930’s) we saw and socialised a great deal throughout my childhood even though we moved to Powell Road in 1948.

When I left school in 1960 I worked at Cottis’ for 6 months at the main bakery and shop in the High Road over the railway bridge just south of Osborn Road. I fortunately worked there for only 6 months until I found my job in London.  Uncle Jack worked mostly on permanent night shift but I used to see him when I needed to go into the bakery at the back of the shop. “Nunky Jack” would be there to give me a gentle reassuring cuddle especially when I got nervous or worried about my new work load. It was hard hot work for very little pay (£3 a 44 hour week) with only Wednesday afternoon & Sunday off each week.

We used to have family gatherings at my aunts most weeks at “Olive Ville” a bungalow just a few doors away from my Grand Parents small home called “Charlesdene”. I remember him coming home after his shift with a slight aroma of the bake house on his clothes.Also for many years at Easter time he used to make very large loaves of bread in the shape of wheat sheaves for the Easter celebrations at the Methodist Church. This is one of the few original buildings still standing further along on the west side of the High Road, Langdon Hills.

Ian has also added the transcript of the conversation that came with the tape recording to add another dimension to this article. Hearing the interview really brings reality to a personal account in that moment of time.

I hope you enjoy Uncle Jacks little story as well as some snippets about Laindons history through his early memories from the mid- 1920’s onwards.

BASILDON HERITAGE (M.S.C) REC CODE R.17.R
Mr J. Rose 6.00 to 7.00 Tuesday 5th November 1985
***
H/S = Heritage Speaker
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34 Great Oxcroft, Laindon
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“And that was in nineteen o four and I came here in Laindon. In nineteen twenty-five. I’ll tell why I came here I used to work for a baker down there called Lyons, I worked for ’em for two and a half years and I thought I’d want a change see. So I, advertised in the trades paper and Mister Cottis answered my address at Langdon Hills. Never heard of it before Langdon Hills or Laindon, he answered it and he told me the.. course I answered him back he offered me a job and I accepted and I worked for him from nineteen twenty-five to nineteen sixty-eight.”
***
H/S “So you saw a lot of long service there?”
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“Yeh, and er.”
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H/S “What was your father’s job? What did your father used to do?”
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“Oh, my father he died in nineteen twelve, no he was an old he was in the Army seventeen years. And then when he came out the Army he was a Stonemason I think it was and then he finished up er, in the er, working in garden for er, he’s still alive the chap, who not the chap who used to work, have you heard of Lord 0livier.”
H/S “Yeh.”
***
“His father, my father was his gardener.”
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H/S “Blimey and whereabouts did it, did he used to work?”
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“Dorking.”
***
H/S “In Dorking.”
“Yeh.”
***
H/S “What about your mother did she ever work sort of thing?”
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“Well she died in er, nineteen thirty-two. She, she died in Dorking.”
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H/S “Yeh, what job did she use to have, what occupation?”
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“Oh. domestic y’know.”
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H/S “Yeh.”
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“Servant, and I lost a brother in the First World War er, on the Somme.”
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H/S “Yep.”
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“Er, nineteen sixteen, only a young feller, I got ‘is photo about here somewhere.”
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H/S “What was his name?”
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“Sid, Sid Rose. I named my son after him after Sid J Rose in Roberts Road.”
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H/S “Yeh, how many, many brothers did you have?”
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“Eh.”
***
H/S “How many brothers did you have?”
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“Er, well I had another brother he went to Australia in nineteen twelve never came home.”
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H/S “Yeh.”
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“Never ‘eard of ‘im no more, he was the other brother.”
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H/S “What about your sisters?”
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“Erm, should, I don’t think I had any sisters ‘cos’ I was the youngest.”
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H/S “Yeh.”
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“When my father died I went to the Shaftesbury Homes in er, in nineteen thirteen I was there five years.”
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H/S “Yeh.”
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“That’s in you know Bilsey, in Surrey?”
***
H/S “Hmm.”
***
“That’s where I was. Yeh, I was there five years.”
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H/S “Yeh.”
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“I left there and come home to my mother in Dorking. Got a job and then eventually finished up in the baking trade.”
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H/S “What did you think of Laindon when you first came here?”
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“What did I think of it?”
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H/S “Yeh, how did you look at it?”
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“Well er, I didn’t know what to think to tell you the truth, I’d never ‘eard of it before er, there was no sewerage, no lights the Station had oil lamps and er, there was only the main road, The High Road.”
***
H/S “Hmm.”
***
“And er, what other road was there Nicholas Lane and Berry Lane you could say that was the only three roads there was ‘ere.”
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H/S “Yeh.”
***
***
“Yeh, barring of course the Southend Arterial, there was only one section of that there”
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H/S “Yeh.”
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“See, yeh, I came here twenty-five. I got married in nineteen twenty-six and I lived in Homeleigh, Osborne Road opposite the bake house that’s where I lived.”
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H/S “Yeh, errh what was the bakery trade, what sort of things; did you used to do when you was a baker?”
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“Oh, bread.”
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H/S “Skills and everything.”
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“All bread.”
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H/S “Yeh, can you remember your day, how your day, what sort of things you used to do?”
***
“Mm.”
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H/S “Can you remember what you used to do as a baker?”
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“What I used to do as a baker?”
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H/S “Yeh, yeh.”
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“Just make bread, make bread oh yeh. Did all sorts of bread, brown bread and Hovis bread you name it.”
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H/S “Yeh.”
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“All sorts of bread and er, we was the only baker here, oh yeh. We had er, course no electricity here then we had a petrol engine to drive our, dough machine y’know and er, so we made our doughs, before that we used to have to make ’em by hand or be it the petrol.”
***
H/S “Hmm.”
***
“Cheap, and er, I used to start at nine at night and finish about ten or eleven in the morning. Friday. I used to start at seven and I was lucky to get out four o’clock Friday afternoon(means Saturday afternoon). Those were long hours wasn’t it.”
***
H/S “Yeh.” Laughter
***
“Different now. I worked for a good family y’know they treated me O.K.”
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H/S “Er, can you remember much about the High Road, the High Road used to be pretty populace didn’t it.”
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“Yeh, the High Road er, you could buy anything in the High Road. I think there was, must have been at least a dozen butchers shops between the Station and the Fortune. Little butcher’s.”
***
H/S “Yeh.”
***
“And er, then there was er, Morris’s the grocer’s, two or three grocer’s there was Morris’s, the. Another Morris had er, clothing shop men and women, big shop. And there was oh, two or three boot shops there was Curtis’s a man’s boots stores, loads of shops. I think between The Crown, the top of The Crown and The Fortune there was near enough ‘undred shops, all different, all little shops like, buy anything. Oh yeh.”
***
H/S “Were there shops near The Crown even, yeh?”
***
“Oh yeh there were shops up the hill there three or four shops up there near The Crown. ‘Cos’ they’re pulled down now. Oh yeh there was butcher’s over there course there was our bakers shop we was over that side (Other side of Laindon Railway Station bridge). Yeh but there was no made roads, no made roads about here.”
***
H/S “None at all.”
***
“It was all unmade roads except the High Road, and I say Berry Lane, Nicholas Lane.”
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H/S “Yeh.”
***
***
“Our governor had a well, he had three or four horse and carts.”
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H/S “Yeh.”
***
“Yeh.”
***
H/S “Did he have trouble delivering in the bad weather?”
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“No, not a lot, no they never made no fuss about delivering y’know they used to er, deliver O.K. If the weather was rough well they, they used to wear the old leather gaiters and wellingtons or whatever they had. And up the side roads the coal merchants used to in the Winter, used to bring the coal up by sledge.”
***
H/S “Sledges.”
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“Yeh, horse-drawn.”
***
H/S “Yeh.”
***
“Coal merchants and I don’t know how many milkmen was about several milkmen.”
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H/S “Yeh, whereabouts, you used to live in Homeleigh, but, how did you come to move to Long Lyndeswood?”
***
“Homeleigh.”
***
H/S “Yeh.”
***
“That was in Osborne Road opposite the baker.”
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H/S “Yeh, how did you come to move?”
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“Well eh.”
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H/S “How did you come to move to Long Lynderswood?”
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“Oh well we had two or three moves since then.”
***
H/S “Yeh.”
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“That ‘cos’ they was, I was earning three pound ten a week and the rent at that place was a pound, that was a lot of money in them days.”
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H/S “Yeh, when was that in the thirties, forties?”
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“Yeh, nineteen twenty-eight.”
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H/S “Nineteen twenty-eight.”
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“I was married nineteen twenty-six don’t forget.”
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H/S “Yeh.”
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“When I got married I took this place and er, we ‘ad to pay a pound a week there. I moved out of there nineteen thirty one I think it was and we went to another bungalow in Gladstone Road.”
***
H/S “Yeh.”
***
“It’s cold now that tea. And we got a bungalow there for sixteen bob a week see gradually mor …
***
***
H/S “Yeh, where’s Gladstone Road? Where was it?”
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“GLadstone Road, I don’t know whether you know er, there’s a level crossing, down here?”
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H/S “Yeh.”
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“Do you know it?”
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H/S “The Level crossing.”
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“Yeh, the railway.”
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H/S “Oh, the railway yeh, yeh.”
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“Ever seen the gates there at that time.”
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H/S “Yeh, yeh.”
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“Well you go through them and Gladstone Road was straight up.”
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H/S “So it was.”
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“It was unmade road.”
***
***
H/S “Unmade road, near Berry Lane,”
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“Eh.”
***
H/S “Not far from Berry Lane.”
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“No this.”
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H/S “No.”
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*“You know the level crossing down ‘ere. Berry Lanes over Langdon Hills way ain’ it.”
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H/S “Yeh, yeh.”
***
“This level crossing you must have passed it, if you come up here, by car ‘ave you.”
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H/S “No I walked.”
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“Oh you walked.”
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H/S “Yeh from where we live.”
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“Oh, you walked.”
***
***
H/S “Yeh, so it was, where would it be now? Where, was, is there now?” “What the level crossing?”
****
H/S “Yeh”
***
“Goodness knows what’s there now,they’re putting a road up from Staneway Bridge you know that.”
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H/S “Yeh.”
***
“they’r putting a road.”
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H/S “Right the way through to Dunton.”
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“That’s right, that’s what they’re doin’. That’s comin’ out by the Station one part of it ain’t it.”
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H/S “Yeh, so your place used to be in Lee Chapel near, not far from Lee Chapel.”
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“Lee Chapel.”
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H/S “Yeh.”
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“That’s it.”
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H/S “Yeh, I know where it is.”
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“Yeh.”
***
H/S “I know, I know the road you mean.”
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“Yeh.”
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H/S “It seems to be very much unmade yeh and it used to be there up until a short while ago just the old part of it.”
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“That’s right yeh.”
***
H/S “Near Marks Hill Reserve, Marks Hill, a place called Marks Hill, they call it that now.”
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“May do I suppose yeh.”
***
H/S “Oh.”
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“Yeh I er, yeh we had one or two moves. And of course the New Town came oh, then after Gladstone Road we moved to er, Northumberland Avenue here, that was near the level crossings we had a bungalow near that level crossing.”
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H/S “Yeh.”
***
“And the Corporation bought us out in nineteen sixty-one and we moved to Long Lynderswood that’s how we come to Long Lynderswood.”
***
***
H/S “What, what did you used to think about the bungalows, the sort of the place what were they like you know the area round them.”
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“Well our bungalow was, it wasn’t brick only the chimney stack it was er, wood er, now inside the, these walls were asbestos.”
***
H/S “Yeh.”
***
“And there was wood the other side an’ we had it rough cast, you know rough cast?”
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H/S “Yeh, yeh.”
***
“Had the outside rough cast.”
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H/S “Yeh.”
***
“Yeh ‘cos’ we never had no electricity we had gas there but we never had no electric.”
***
H/S “Yeh.”
***
“Not until after the war I bought that bungalow and then the Corporation bought it off me in nineteen sixty-one.”
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H/S “What was it called, the one at Northumberland Av.”
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“What was the bungalow called?”
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H/S “Yeh.”
***
“Oliveville.”
***
H/S “Oliveville.”
***
“Yeh.”
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H/S “A lot of people used to buy ’em didn’t they used to buy their.”
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“Yeh I bought my bungalow it cost me.”
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H/S “Sorry a lot of people used to build ’em.”
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“Oh, yeh.”
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H/S “Yeh, did you remember the weekenders that were coming down?”
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“Oh, yeh we, people used to come down here weekends with their, buy their plots.”
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H/S “Yeh.”
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“When I come here you could buy plots of ground for three pound. Perhaps a bit less than that they used to buy these plots and put, put bungalows up y’know.”
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H/S “Just build ’em up bit by bit.”
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“Some was made with brick, some was like our’swood and some was just wood outside and er, they had a place over ‘ere.”
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H/S “Yeh.”
***
“’Tis, was over here they used to call it Tintown.”
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H/S “Tintown.”
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“Yeh they er.”
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H/S “It was all corrugated iron.”
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“That’s right, you’ve got it.”
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H/S “I heard about it.”
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“They corrugated, they called it Tintown.”
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H/S “What was special, what did it look like? What was it like there?”
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“Oh, I didn’t go up there much I don’ I forgot what it looked like but er, that’s what it, they was built with corrugated.”
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H/S “Where would it be now, where would Tintown be now? What roads would it cover?”
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“Er, it’s in Buckingham Road.”
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H/S “And it would be Laindon Link now?”
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“Yeh.”
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H/S Laindon Link.”
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“Laindon Link that it, it’d be over here (points to where Laindon Link is now).” H/S “Yep, yep.”
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“’Cos’ er, this High Road.”
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H/S “Yeh.”
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“That’s always been there, then there was. Yeh it would have been over here, yeh, Long Linderswood we stopped there till nineteen sixty-one.I got son bought a, some ground and an old bungalow up Roberts Road.”
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H/S “Yeh.”
***
“He knocked it down, oh a couple of ’em together knocked it down and they built the, couple of semi-detached houses.”
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H/S “Oh.”
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We moved in one and ‘is mate moved in the other.”
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H/S “That was good.”
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“What helped ‘im build.”
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H/S “Yeh, right must have been good.”
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“Then when he got, we was up there, what ten years ‘e got married in nineteen seventy-five so we moved to Laindon Link the wife and me so ‘im and ‘is wife could ‘ave the house.”
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H/S “What did you think of the New Town when it first came?”
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“The New Town.”
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H/S “Yeh.”
***
“Well.”
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H/S “What did the people, a lot of the people think. A lot of the old Laindoners?”
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“Well they didn’t like it did they.”
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H/S “Hmm, they tried to fight it some of ’em didn’t it.”
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“Yeh, they a lot of them now prefer old Laindon to what the New Town. Oh yeh.”
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H/S “Yeh.”
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“Well they all got their own little places you know. You could buy anythin’ here and er, before the war you could get to Southend for tenpence return on the train. If you went up the other way, if you went up by workman’s you could get up there for one and threepence ha’penny return to Fenchurch. Cheap wasn’t it!”
***
H/S “Yeh, life was pretty settled.”
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“Old money.”
****
H/S “Yeh I know, life was pretty settled there as well.”
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“Oh yeh. people sort of even though they were isolated cottages and bungalows. Oh no there was more season ticket holders here.”
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H/S “Yeh.”
***
“Than anyone on the line, between Southend and Fenchurch.”
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H/S “Yeh that was.”
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“This had the most season ticket holders.”
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H/S “Hmm, so there used to be a big commuter?”
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“Oh yes, all these people that built their places up and down everyday, built their places.”
***
H/S “How long did it used to take them from Laindon to er, London?” “How long did it used to take?” H/S “Yeh, there.” “Well it was all accordin’ to what train you catched, it took hour.” H/S “Ah hour?” “Yeh, if you could get a fast train like the ten o’clock there was one at ten o’clock, it was Barking first stop then Fenchurch, you could have did it in about forty minutes.”
***
H/S “Yeh.”
***
“Erm yeh.”
***
H/S ”How do: you think the place has changed over the years?”
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“Gawd it’s changed lot they’ve spoilt Langdon Hills, they’ve gradually spoiled that, all the building up there.”
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H/S “Oh yeh.”
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“That used to be proper country I expect I dunno whether you remember it ‘for it was built.”
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H/S “I know a little bit, I remember a little bit.”
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“Yeh, there was all er, Langdon Hills was lovely in them days, yeh.”
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H/S “Built a lot of houses there haven’t they?”
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“Oh yeh, they’re for sale ain’t they.”
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H/S “Yeh.”
***
“Erm, they’ve opened a Police Station here now ‘aven’t they, Worthing Road. Police Station used to be near that other roundabout, the one that goes up Nicholas Lane. Do you know Nicholas Lane?”
***
H/S “Yeh, yeh there used to be a Police Station there.”
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“There used to be a Police Station there.”
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H/S “At the junction of Laindon High Road and St Nicholas Lane.”
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“That’s right hmm.”
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H/S “Oh er.”
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“The doodlebugs, a couple of doodlebugs come down here. Y’know the and er, we had a rocket fall in Vowler Road Langdon Hills and one fell at Pitsea I think.”
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H/S “Hmm.”
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“And er, there was er, one, there was two or three German planes brought down here.”
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H/S “Yeh.”
***
***
“Yeh, in fact my boys had a bit of a Dorny I dunno what they’ve done with it.” H/S “No.”
***
“Brought down up Gladstone Road up there.”
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H/S “And they went out and picked a bit up?”
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“Yeh.” H/S “Oh.”
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“And the airman was hanging in trees and er. shot down they was all dead.”
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H/S “Yeh.”
***
“Yeh, they, that was on a Sunday they er, they went out and got a lump of plane, a Dorny, whether they’ve still got it I don’t know.”
***
H/S “Yeh, and that was near to Gladstone Road?”
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“Yeh, of course they was all called up they’ve all bin in the Army.”
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H/S “Yeh, National Service.”
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“Oh yeh. Well two of ’em’s called up during the war Sid and Tom the two eldest and the other one Jack. What’s the bridegroom he was called up in er, nineteen forty-seven National Service see.”
***
H/S “Yeh.”
***
“Oh yeh, yeh, Sid went to Egypt and Tom went er.. he was over in Francefor a little while y’know D-day and, not exactly D-day he went over about a fortnight after D-day.”
***
H/S “Yeh.”
***
“Oh yeh.”
***
H/S “So they saw a lot, a o action abroad as well?”
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“They saw a bit of action over there, oh yeh.”
***
H/S “And the sort of final push?”
***
“Yeh, oh yeh”
***
H/S “Yeh, Can you remember the Victory celebrations down here? Did they have anythin’ special?”
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“No I was, I don’t remember much about them they, I was working they did have a.”
***
H/S “V.E. Day, V.J. Day?”
***
“Yeh, V.J., but so many people round here at weekend they wanted bread so we kept working (laughter) Yeh.”
***
H/S “Oh.”
***
“If there was a fire here before the war.”
***
H/S “Yeh.”
***
“They had to get the fire, fire thing y’know the fire engine from Billericay.” H/S “Hmm.”
***
“There was no Fire Station here.”
***
H/S “That no, what about Toomey’s didn’t Toomey’s used to be a Fire Station?” “Aah, that was only in later years.”
***
H/S “Yeh.”
***
“When I first come here the, there was a fire here it came from Billericay.” H/S “Billericay”(laughing)
***
“And there was only one doctor here when I first come here that was Doctor Shannon.”
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H/S “Yeh.”
***
“He did all the district, only one doctor that’s all we had, yeh.”
***
H/S “Er, do you remember the carnivals? Anything about the carnivals?”
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“Oh there, they used to have a carnival I think it was er, every Whit Monday, oh yeh they used to have a carnival here, they used to have a band and er, oh the er, tradesmen had their y’know.”
***
H/S “And floats.”
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“I decorated up er, vans and what have you yeh. Yeh,they used to have the carnival.”
***
H/S “Used to be quite a lot of people turn out then.”
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“Oh yeh, the lot. Before the war people used to come off the trains Saturdays, they used to empty at Laindon and er.”
***
H/S ”They used to work on Saturday morning.”
***
“Eh”
***
H/S “They used to work on a Saturday morning.”
***
“Yeh.”
***
H/S “Yeh.”
***
“They’d come down Saturday afternoon and ’bout three or four minutes well five or six minutes after the train had emptied they’d all disappeared all up the side roads y’know.”
***
H/S “Yeh.”
***
“Where ever their plots was. And er, on Bank Holidays ‘ere they used to be six I think trains start from here. I’m talking about before the war, between the first and second war there used to be six trains start from ‘ere of a Sunday evening or a Bank Holiday, take ’em all back ‘ome back to London.”
***
H/S “London.”
***
“Where they come from, yeh, see ’em start from ‘ere ‘bout six trains a Sunday.”
***
H/S “Six, they were all packed?”
***
“Yeh pretty well you ought to have seen the people on the Station.”
***
H/S “Yeh.”

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  • Patsy.  I have noticed on one of the newer estates in Langdon Hills (just west of ‘The Rec’), there are roads called: Cottis Close, Rosecroft Close and Wheatfield.  Maybe these are a tribute to the baker’s shop.  I’d like to think so.

    By Nina Humphrey(née Burton) (09/04/2014)
  • Thanks Nina for that information. I understand there were quite a few Cottis family members about the Laindon & Billericay areas but do not know whether the road name relates to Ray Cottis who ran  the Langdon Hills bakery. Interesting thought though. Patsy

    By Patsy Mott (09/04/2014)
  • I can empathise with Thelma Oliver, 15/3/14, stating that no one mentions the ‘poor German airmen’ who perished. It is even sadder that no one mentions the governments who throughout history have continually brainwashed and dehumanised their youth into believing there is honour and glory in destroying those who have been similarly corrupted and it is not until the guns fall silent that the mesmerism wears off  that people begin to realise that their enemies were also humans who thought that they too were fighting to save their countries and families.  I wonder how many of those who survived and profess to be Christian and are nearing the end of their lives feel trepidation as to when they stand before Jesus how their actions will be judged.

    By W.H.Diment (16/03/2014)
  • Thank you Patsy.  Glad I read through script as I have not so far found anyone who mentioned the poor German airmen.  When most of the noise of guns etc finished we came out of our Anderson shelter made our way up to the crash but were stopped from going all the way up my father A R P on his patrol took charge until everything was organised for removal.  Years after when I walked the back way up to St. Mary’s church it could clearly be seen the lumps and bumps of the crater in the garden.  A sad time for all of us.

    By Thelma Oliver (15/03/2014)
  • Hallo Patsy,

    Thank you for clarifying the respective relationships, although to my mind the photograph of Jack favours Jackie, rather than Sid.   It is strange how things, even trivial incidents thought forgotten, come tumbling back. Although it is over 50 years ago since the visit to Broomfields, I can still recall some of the dialogue. Sid’s mum remarked that the room was rather bare and a couple of pin ups might brighten it up, to which Sid replied “no thanks, I prefer the real thing”.  While it was just a passing remark, can Sid remember saying it.  Why I remember this I cannot say other than the brain is a biological computer of  which most cannot control the input  not having found the “off switch”.  However, it has been said that there are those who pass through this life never having  found the “on switch”. ( Nothing offensive intended, just piece of senile humour).

    By WH.Diment (25/02/2014)
  • Hallo Patsy,

    Am I correct in reading that Sid was Jack’s son and not nephew as I stated?    If so, I can remember meeting Sid’s mum and dad when together with members of the Laindon CC we visited Sid at Broomfields hospital in Chelmsford.

    By W.H.Diment (24/02/2014)
  • Hello William. Yes you are correct, Sid was in Broomfield Hospital for a considerable time in the 1950’s. My Aunt Florence and Uncle Jack had three sons, Sid being the middle son and now the only one left.

    I have quite a few photos of Sid int the hospital.  Also of his cricketing and football days with local teams. There are some of these photos on site in the sports sections.

    Thanks for your interest, you obviously met and knew the Rose family all those years ago.

    Cheers

    By Patsy Mott (née Tyler) (24/02/2014)
  • Reading the memories of Jack(Master Baker) Rose brought back my own memories of old Laindon, especially as I knew his two nephews Sid and Jacky quite well.  I would like to add a small comment in respect of the roads for those unfamiliar with the area in those days, that these apply mainly to the High Road and its immediate surrounds.  Jack mentions only four as being ‘made  up’,  Berry Lane, High Road, St.Nicholas Lane and the Arterial Rd.  There were of course others such as Pound Lane, Church Hill, School Lane, Basildon Road, Pipps Hill Road, Hardings Elm Road, Wash Road, Noak Hill Road and Dunton Road. Then a little later came Royston Avenue and Martindale Avenue.   These were not all tarmacadam surfaced but were hard roads allowing vehicular access,  unlike the mud tracks which adjoined the High Road and the other hard roads and could account for the fact that pre-war, there were three petrol filling stations between the station and the Fortune of War. 

    By W.H.Diment (23/02/2014)
  • Hi William

    Glad the article about Jack Rose brought back some memories for you. You said you knew Sid and Jackie Rose, they are my cousins so are Jack Rose’s sons and not his nephews as you mentioned in your comment. Jackie died in late 2012 and Sid still lives near us in Laindon.

    Glad you are still enjoying the LDCA site and contributing your valuable memories for us to enjoy.

    By Patsy Mott (née Tyler) (23/02/2014)
  • Hi Patsy – just read the transcription of your uncle’s tape – brilliant!  I can only imagine your feeling on hearing his voice again (goose pimples).  I am going to click on the listening link now.  This is such a good idea and it has prompted me to dig out tapes made with Gladys Turbard (Laindon Post-woman) – which I will bring with me at our next meeting.

    Best wishes

    By Andrea (22/02/2014)

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