Canvey Elementary School 1920s

The following is from the hundreds of newspaper clippings we saved from the Echo a couple of years ago.

Aubrey, ringed in the picture, was one of the first pupils at the school after it opened in 1924. He believes this picture was taken in 1925 or 1926.

A lot of things have changed since the school photo above was taken in the 1920s. But the wild hairdo of the lad on the right end of the back row seems bang up to date.

Charlie Goldborne is just one of the old pals 67 year old Aubrey Stevens remembers from this classroom shot of Canvey Elementary School, the latest Where Are They Now feature.

Aubrey, a retire baker, of Gafzelle Drive, said: “Charlie had a great crop of curly hair. He used to have it trim­med, but it always grew quickly. “He was a builder on Canvey and living here the last I heard of him.

Aubrey also remembers Reg Bishop, fifth right in the back row, who ran a Canvey greengrocery business with his brothers.

He would also like to trace Dick Turner, fifth right in the front row. He said: “The lasts I heard he had been working in North Benfleet. We were great friends.”

The elementary school in Long Road had 200 pupils in four classes, and was the first council-run school on Canvey. When it was knocked down and rebuilt in the early ’70s the new school was named after the first head­master, Mr William Read.

Mr Read, on the left of the picture, was head for nearly 40 years.