Home Making at Canvey part 3
Southend Times Pictorial Supplement 1923
 On the move again, the quartet saw a splendid herd of cows at Mr Chamber’s Dairy Farm; and Joe and Elsie arranged for their household supply |  Mr Ireson, of Canvey Market, with excellent ranges of kitchen utensils and his bed-rock prices, speedily booked a good order. Whatever you want he has. |
 Meeting Jim and Madge again, Joe and Elsie wanted to relate the adventures of the afternoon, so they went to the Travellers Rest, where tongues wagged merrily over tea. |  Jim, having become a member of Canvey Club, invited the party down for a pleasant hour on the verandah. They all enjoyed themselves amid tasteful surroundings. |
 The evening finished with a first-class concert at Bohemia Park, where the visitors heard the man at the piano make the instrument talk, and some of the best songs of the year. |  “What about a paper?” said Joe next day. They wanted the best daily and weekly newspapers and made for Mr E. J Phillips Agency. He has them all. |
 Joe and Elsie found that the Canvey Market was a Whiteley’s in miniature, and that this excellent enterprise is due to the brain and energy of Mr S. H. Kaye. |  They once lived “down under” and are fond of Australian wines. They found some at Mr Foster’s noted stores at Leigh Beck, the only off-licence on Canvey. |
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Canvey Market was on the High Street opposite Whittier Hall and The Settlement where Blossom Stevens lived. It was just past St.Annes Road.
The Canvey Club was just around the corner from the current Canvey Club and on the same side. It had a bridge across the dyke and then a verandah. Inside was a large room. I think the bar was on the left. It burnt down in the 1940s. My sister had her wedding reception there.
Hi Maureen,Your description is actually the ‘Smallgains Club’ which was as you accurately described just round the corner from the Canvey Club. It occupied the large strip of land to the south of the Canvey Club with what used to be Atwells Butchers & Chambers branch shop (Parish’s s/hand shop and a barbers later on) as a boundary.
That building is still extant as one house! You probably remember that you used to get of the bus, coming home from school, at the bus stop right opposite the club
I’ve checked with Rod Bishop re the fire (he was on one side (north) and I was on the other side, by the Clock House, and we are both certain it was in 1955. The property might probably have been derelict some years before. I have memories walking by it from 5 yrs old and it looking quite run-down then, hidden by the elm trees and the verandah stacked up with old chairs, crates of bottles etc. Rod even remembers MATTRESSES!
The prestigious???? Canvey Club is out of the 3 clubs on the corner the only one not to have been affected by fire (the Corner Club caught fire a few years ago.)
Maybe the mens’ urinal at the Canvey Club proved to be an effective firebreak! 😀 Graham.
PS There is a very nice photo of the Smallgains Club in it’s hey-day to be seen if you put the name in the Archive search box.
Hi Graham. In the photos above it shows the couple relaxing on the verandah of the Canvey Club. I never remember it having a verandah but the club that burnt down did.
Hi,
That’s right Maureen, the Canvey Club has never had a verandah, even back in 1923 it seems you couldn’t rely on local journalism( unless it was edited by the Mc Cave family). Strangely the Canvey Club is a rarity from those times, i.e., a building you can enter at ground level where you can find a door without stepping up or crossing a bridge! A distinct advantage for those members crawling out at closing time, whenever that might be?
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