Beach house at the end of Seaview road Canvey, much as it must have looked in the late forties, before all the house building and seawall improvements after the 1953 floods .
I am unsure if still stands, but I remember spending much time there with the Thoupos boys, whose father owned it in the fifties. The rest of the scenery is evocative of my own childhood, where Canvey Island was much the same as it had been when Harry was a child. It was only in the sixties, seventies and eighties that everything changed for the worse. DPR
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Love this painting – Sadly Beach House was demolished in the 1980’s, replaced with a small Housing Estate
Hi I was just browsing the site after watching a snippet of the floods on a bbc documentary just now. My dad is one of the Thoupos boys! Carlo Thoupos, brother of Andrew. And no doubt their dog, Prince. There is no longer a Beach House. :/. I wonder why it wasn’t listed. The land reaped houses. My dad’s brother, sister and their families still live on Canvey. I have memories from early 70s of visiting my grandmother and family (my dad married my mum and moved away in early sixties and my grandfather known as ‘Fred’ died in 1970 when i was about 2). The family continued to run the caravan site and cafe til probably about the end of that decade? I remember staying the night there and loving the sound of the bell / buoy clanging out . And playing hide and seek games with my cousins amongst the caravans and chatting to some of the folk that were permanent fixtures in their caravans.. Ps i just rang my dad thinks he remembers David Russell through Barry Whitley (?)
We have a picture of the Beach House in the floods you see it here. We would love to hear more about your family why not add a page.
since previous comment .. My dad rang me back to say he recalls David as introducing him to a Beethoven night at the Albert Hall , possibly my dad’s best friend Ray as well. In the 50s.
Thank you , I will be showing him the site later and see if any previously unseen pictures or postcards ( we have a few only of beach house). I was actually on here looking for a picture from a 1953 newspaper I recall seeing years ago so he may have a copy somewhere – of him with his dad (Fred) on a makeshift boat or raft, rescuing people. My dad would’ve been 16 .
I had my wedding reception there I can remember going the night before to take my wedding cake, and the whole family were there with dusters on there feet polishing the floor, they made my day with a wonderful spread i have a lovely photo of this if only I knew how to add it.
Email it to me Margaret and I will add it for you jan@canveyisland.org
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