Ships from all over the world used to berth at the Docks to unload their cargoes - grain, meat and tobacco among them. Here is a glimpse of that era.

"A Walk Through the Victoria and Albert Docks"

Extract from London-over-the-Border Church Fund Grand Historical Bazaar Handbook 1914

By J. G. BROODBANK - Chairman of the Dock and Warehouse Committee of the Port of London Authority.

"During the last ten years there has been a marked revival in this country of the Imperial spirit. The seed was sown in the English nation when the adventurers of the Elizabethan period stepped out into the world to see what was to be seen and to take what could be taken. Fortunately the moderns are not guided by the buccaneering impulses of the 16th century, and without making invidious comparisons we may fairly claim to say that the ideals of the true British imperialist of to-day show a considerable advance on those of his ancestors. Those ideals are varying, but underlying them is a real desire for co-operation in the best interests of everybody in the British Empire.

How can this co-operation best be achieved? Undoubtedly it is greatly assisted by the exchange of neighbourly and pleasant sentiments and acts; but to my mind not the least practical method is that of the exchange of goods, in other words, by the relationships created by trade.

If this point is a good one, then the Victoria and Albert Docks can be reckoned as one of the chief elements in the promotion of the imperial ideal, for there is no place in the whole of the British Empire where so many goods are brought in from the Colonies and overseas possessions, and where so many goods are sent out to those parts of the Empire.

Gold metal and red and blue enamel badge, pin fixing, marked Birmingham Medal Co.This type issued in 1937.

Speedway arrived at West Ham in July 1928.  Alderman Jack Jones, MP, opened the first meeting. The last meeting was in 1972. The supporters club ceased in the 1980s.

Badge property of Bill Durie

Victoria Dock under construction in the 1850s, with very little mechanical machinery in evidence.

Ray Scull who grew up in Canning Town, is project manager for construction firm, Higgins, whose £3.7 billion scheme was to build up to 10,000 new homes. With new community and leisure facilities, in Canning Town and Custom House.

See attachment.