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The Shoebury Devils
Does anyone have any information or memories of the Shoebury Devils motorcycling team? They used to practice behind East Beach during the 50s. Any information gratefully received. BD

I remember seeing bullet holes around the entrance and walls of the Southend Technical College, where the Germans had bombed it in the war. I think there are bullet holes in the museum building too. What a shame the old College was pulled down!.

S. Smith.

I am sending you one of my favourite photographs: the main building of the Municipal College [see Gallery page]. I took this picture in 1968, after it had closed prior to redevelopment. That really was a sin. I can look at this photograph even today and recall entering through the main front doors on sweltering summer's days, to savour the dim coolness of its high marble corridors.

Derek P.

"Essex pudding" was known to our family in the 1920s as "boiled batter". It must have been an extra special dish as mother can only remember having it on Christmas Day. It is quite possible that it was eaten to take the edge of one's appetite. Grandfather was a thatcher at Temple Farm, Sutton and earned only eighteen shillings per week on which to bring up six children, so quite likely there was a shortage of meat on the table.

Alec W.

At the end of the 19th century, William Morris had this to say about the area around his birthplace Walthamstow: It was "all flat pasture... scarcely anything but a few sheds and cots for the men who come to look after the great herds of cattle. What with the beasts and the men and the scattered red-tiled roofs and the big hayricks, it does not make a bad holiday to get a quiet pony and ride about there of a sunny afternoon in autumn and look over the river and the craft passing up and down... and then turn round to the wide green sea of the Essex marshlands, with the great domed light of the sky and the sun shining down in one flood of peaceful light over the long distance." William Morris

Does anyone have any information about Shonks Mill which was situated on the River Roding about a mile and a half east of Passingford Bridge. An old (1890) map shows "mill" but no mention of "Shonks". Where did the name come from?

W. Bush

I am writing a book on old and traditional Essex recipes and would be very grateful if you could send in details of local dishes your grandmothers used to make. Email the Essex History website or locus_arts@yahoo.com Thank you.
Sue Hibberd