When I was at West Ham Secondary School in the 1930s the houses were Fry, Gurney, Langthorne and Lister. I was in Gurney House.

Hello Nell,

I’m just wondering if “Peggy Leggy Steps” was a generic term for all of the stairs along the sewer bank that linked it to the streets below.  My mother was raised in Livingstone Road, a turning off High Street, Stratford.  From that road there were stairs that provided access to the top of the sewer bank and they were known by the locals as the “Peggy Leggy Steps”.

I’m afraid I can shed no light on how they got that name.  Could it have been that the wooden treads resembled a peg leg?  As Kathy Taylor pointed out, these stairs had no risers and you could actually see through them to whatever was underneath.  At least walking up and down them was not as scary as Bert Smith’s clippers but, being a girl, that’s an experience of which you were spared.

All the best,

Graham

Graham,

The sewer steps in Livingstone Road were installed during the early 1930s. I well remember watching the work being done. They were, incidentally, a boon to the large number of children from the Livingstone and Stanley Roads area attending Three Mills School in Abbey Lane. Previously, those children had to walk to Stratford High Street and then the length of Abbey Lane to the school.

The name "Peggy Leggy Steps" was never applied to those steps while I was there. They were always simply known as the sewer steps.

Bert.

What hard lives some that went before us had. I am sure you are proud of him.

I wonder what some people would think of what they fought for now?

A good question, MBrennan.

Bert.

BLESS HIM!!! He was obviously too old to serve in the Armed Forces but the likes of him serving in home defence were as loyal and dedicated to our country and its people as any of us who served in the Forces.

I well remember Clark's brush works in Lucas Road. Behind their factory building in Lucas Road they had a back yard adjoining Three Mills School, Abbey Lane. The yard was always stacked high with bundles of brush fibres, each about two feet long, like sheaves of corn.

Back in the 1920s we boys used to climb over the school playground wall and romp among the fibre bundles. We never did any damage so there was no harm in our exploits.

Incidentally, the company was rarely referred to by locals as Clark's but as "The Fibre".

What was the surname of your relative who worked there, DH? Perhaps I knew of him or her.

Bert.

Hello Jenny and Albert,

In an earlier message to Dellan I mentioned that I had signatures of staff and fellow pupils on the covers of my last WHSS magazine, issued in July 1938.

Yesterday evening, In view of your recollections of the staff, I attempted to post a copy of the page to you on this website but my pic attachment was too large for acceptance. I explained this to you and said that I would try to email it to you, but in my frustration I also made an unduly critical comment on the limitations of the Newham website. Result? That message was removed. Sorry, Administrator.

However, I have, hopefully, now emailed the page of signatures to you both. The page, after 74 years, is a bit dog-eared but I can still decipher the signatures.

Bert.

Jenny and Albert,

I emailed the item to you both but have been notified that the deliveries failed. Perhaps your email addresses shown on this website are incorrect or outdated. What a waste of my time!!!

Bert.





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Newham Story Team,

I certainly typed the message to Jenny and Albert and am confident that I clicked the "Post" button. However, if it did not get posted luck was on my side.

I apologise for wasting your time.

Bert.

Hello Jenny and Albert,

In an earlier message to Dellan I mentioned that I had signatures of staff and fellow pupils on the covers of my last WHSS magazine, issued in July 1938.

Yesterday evening, In view of your recollections of the staff, I attempted to post a copy of the page to you on this website but my pic attachment was too large for acceptance. I explained this to you and said that I would try to email it to you, but in my frustration I also made an unduly critical comment on the limitations of the Newham website. Result? That message was removed. Sorry, Administrator.

However, I have, hopefully, now emailed the page of signatures to you both. The page, after 74 years, is a bit dog-eared but I can still decipher the signatures.

Bert.

Hello Jenny,

Welcome to the WHSS chat.

I'm surprised that Miss Coverdale was still teaching there about 30 years after I was at the school.

I usually walked to and from home for the 12.00-2pm school lunchtimes and often passed Miss Coverdale in the Abbey Road area. She was accompanied by, and sometimes holding hands with, a smart young man who I took to be her boyfriend. I did not show my recognition of her by touching my school cap to her or create gossip with fellow pupils at school. I had too much respect for the lady. So it was the dachshund dog and not the smart young man who, apparently, won her heart.

Bert.

Hello Derek,

Thanks for inviting me to respond to you by email. I can understand your frustration at off-topic comments by others but feel that on all discussion forums it has to be accepted, unfortunately. This is a West and East Ham history website so our memories of WHSS contribute to that history record.(Memories of other schools have been "flogged to death" on here, so why not the rarely-mentioned West Ham Secondary School?) We can still share our oldage more personal comments via email, can't we?

So my memory of a Miss Lanning was sound. A few years ago I saw a lady consultant from The Royal Free Hospital interviewed on TV. Her name was Jessie Mestel. "I remember her," I thought, so emailed her. Sure enough, it was the Jessie Mestel from WHSS.

I remember Mr Harris, Mr Rudgley (the great art master) and Miss Jeremy (Latin). What fine teachers they were!! Whenever I picture Miss Jeremy I still think, "amo, amas, amat, amamus, amatis, amant", the latin verb "to love", my first day's teaching from Miss Jeremy 80 years ago.

Do you recall the French oral master, Monsieur Cerisee ("cherry tree" in English)? During the war, when BBC radio did regular news broadcasts to our Allies I would hear a Frenchman announcing, "Ici Londres". "Sounds like the voice of old Cherry tree," I thought. Checked with the BBC, who confirmed it was he.

Mr Evans, science, Mr F.G.W Brown, maths, Miss Simkins, French, Miss Coverdale, history, Miss Atkinson, geography, ad infin. What fine teachers they were!!!

Here endeth my boring sermon on West Ham Sec School teachers - until the next one.

Bert.

Thank you, Derek. I cannot recall you at the school but I do have a faint recollection of a girl named Lanning in the form year above mine.

I'll be (fingers crossed!!) 91 in two weeks time but still have some WHSS remnants, including my annual school reports album, my school testimonial, a WHSS blazer badge and one that I have before me now, the school magazine for my last term there in July, 1938. On both sides of the magazine cover are dozens of autographs of fellow pupils and staff. Whenever I see those signatures I feel a sadness for six of them, my close mates who I know lie in foreign WW2 graves. They were all in the RAF and gone by the age of 23.

Yes, school assembly was a memorable start to each school day. The school song was composed by our then music master, Mr Smoldon. The pianist in the school orchestra at each assembly was a girl in my form, Sylvia Faust. I was in touch with her via the internet about five years ago, when she was married to a Canadian and living in Canada. She had travelled the world performing as a pianist, apparently.

Have lots more memories of WHSS, of course, and will be delighted to exchange them with yours. So I'll now be patriotic () and watch the TV opening of the Olympics which has been buzzing in the background.

Bert.

Hello, dellan. Snap!!! I, too, was at WHSS, Tennyson Road from 1933 to 1938. I, too, served for five years in the RAF in WW2.

For most of my time at the school the Principal was Dr Churchill. He was succeeded Mr Spikes. Of course, the boys' PT master was Sgt Major Pritchard, who, with his military-style discipline and fatherly talks on civilised behaviour, helped to progress us from boyhood to manhood.

Over to you, dellann.

Bert.

I remember those days, Louise. So far as I can recall the only items they could not commandeer were beds, cooking utensils and the tools of one's trade.

Many families then bought furniture by hire purchase. Fall behind with payments and their beloved new furniture would be recovered by the supplier. I can remember, back in the 1930s, people's furniture being loaded into a van and back to the "never never" store that sold it.

It's no wonder that in those days there was no rush of foreign immigrants to join us. Despite all the trials and tribulations, though, we were then a very happy and united community.

Bert.

I may have made this comment elsewhere on this website but whenever I hear Vera's name mentioned the same memory of deep praise for her is rekindled.

When I was serving in the Far East during WW2 Vera Lynn was absolutely loved by the Forces. Usually, when entertainment stars visited they were hosted by and fed with the officers in the Officers'Mess. Not so Vera. She always insisted on feeding and sitting with "the men" in their cookhouse or whatever. She was certainly the most popular of the ENSA visitors.

Bert.

Relieving Officer.