Harry Fowler, Fish & Chips, 1st Lower Halstow, Wickham Street

Harry James Fowler was born 10th December 1926 in Lambeth (London). His cockney accent and cheeky smile landed him many parts in film and TV throughout his career, which began via radio after he was invited as a newspaper boy to give his account of life in war-torn London, and was heard by film company executives preparing a feature film about evacuees. His screen test was at Elstree studios and he was paid £5 a day to play opposite George Cole, then also a novice actor.

He married actress Joan Dowling in 1951 after working together on the Ealing comedy 'Hue and Cry.' (She committed suicide in 1954 after she discovered he was having an affair. It is thought that she may have just wanted to scare him, never truly intending to gas herself.) He later married Catherine (Kay) Palmer.

Harry went on to become a very successful film actor, with a policy of never turning down a role, having accepted such advice from Jack Warner. He also appeared in many popular television programmes such as The Army Game, Dixon of Dock Green, Z Cars, Minder, Dr.Who, The Bill, Casualty, and In Sickness and Health.

He was awarded an MBE in 1970, and he died 4th January 2012, leaving Kay behind, but no children.

Here he is in the foyer of the Gaumont (later Odeon) Rochester High Street in 1952, the year 'Angels One Five' was released, in which he played an aircraftman in the RAF, the same role he played for real during the war.

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This restaurant was at 362 High Street, Rochester. The two lads surveying the fare on offer were possibly debating whether to use the counter service (the term take-away had not yet been invented!), or to eat in.

Cod and chips were 2/- and plaice fillet was £1 extra. A cup of tea was 4d.

There was another branch at 136 Milton Road Gillingham, owned by Alan and Doris Crisfield. From 1973 - 1978 he was appointed National President of the Federation of Fish Fryers, and he and his wife started an annual banquet and ball, held in Brighton, which is still in existance today.

The first ever fish and chip shops were in London and Lancashire, custom mainlycoming from the so- called working class, such as sailors and dockers. Alan acknowledged later that things had changed and he had Doctors, Solicitors and Accountants queing at the door. He also boasted the fact that three Clergymen were regular customers!

Fish and Chip shops are few and far between now, but in the 1959 Kelly's there were 31 in the area!

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This is the 1st Lower Halstow Cubs at the 1954 Upchurch Carnival, a once popular and much-anticipated event which no longer takes place.

Locals may recognise the site here, which I am sure looks very different today!

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Wickham Street Rochester in 1954.

Bombed in April 1941, possibly because it was in close proximity to Shorts aircraft factory on Esplanade, where the Sunderland and Stirling seaplanes were being manufactured. Eight people were killed, four from the same family. 

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Abuse of  copyright will be dealt with under the copyright law.

'That's My Boy;' PDSA; Brompton;

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'That's My Boy' was a film which starred Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, released in 1951. It was a comedy, reviewed as one of the funniest films ever, and told the story of a talentless student who is 

pushed into playing football. Amused shoppers look on as a mobile and unique advert is passing the Co-operative Society Ltd. which was at nos; 181-187 High Street Chatham, with the British and Argentine Meat Co. Ltd. butchers next door. Provision Merchants Home and Colonial store was at no; 191.

Just in the picture was J & F lighting and radio dealers, which was on the corner of Fair Row.

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The Peoples Dispensary for Sick Animal (PDSA) was founded in 1917 by Maria Dickin who was moved by the plight of sick animals owned by those unable to afford treatment. The Charity is supported by an impressive list of celebrities, and in 2013 the public voted it the UK's most loved charity.

This surgery was at 121 The Brook, Chatham, and this particular mobile unit was donated by Mrs Ethel Beatrice Dunn as a tribute to her brother Sidney Cecil Foord, 'a lover of animals'. The two of them grew up in Faversham. All mobile units were withdrawn in 1975. This vehicle was captured in 1957. The PDSA is still funded entirely through public donations. Pet owners are required to live within the catchment area of a service and be in receipt of either housing benefit or Council tax benefit to qualify for treatment. The Chatham surgery is now in Union Street.

N.B. The sign in the car park behind reads 'Borough of Chatham, Free Car Park' - ah, the good old                                                                                                                                                     days!!

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A few views of Brompton during 1952 reflect the state of housing at that time as re-development was taking place. A roundabout was created on Dock Road to carry traffic straight through Brompton, and most of the area was flattened to make way for the modern flats and homes seen there today. Such a loss of character, but very commonplace post-war.

Wards Construction are responsible for the building works, and a Priestman digger in use is from Hilton Sarsfield Ltd; plant hire and contractors from East Malling. A Muir Hill dumper is on hand.  The road beside the site is Middle Street and  Dock Road is showing on the first photograph.

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Abuse of  copyright will be dealt with under the copyright law.

Luxram Electric; Luton Girls Choir

Thank you for an encouraging reception to my Blog. I hope to maintain your interest.

With so much to choose from my greatest difficulty is deciding which photographs to use,  so let's kick off with some that I have accrued information on whilst planning another book.

This shows a staff outing in 1949 from Luxram Electric that were based in Knight Road Strood. The name of the Company pretty much explains what they manufactured - electric lamps, fluorescent tubes, lamp-making machinery, and they were electronic engineers.

The Company was founded in 1932 and a foundation stone was laid in 1947.

I believe I read somewhere that the building burned down in 1969.

As a matter of interest the coaches are on hire from Pilchers Coaches who were based in Beacon Road Chatham, moving in 1983 to Whitewall Road Strood after a change of ownership.

There is a publication featuring their story, written by Malcolm John.

If not available in Baggins Book Bazaar, Rochester, there are some available on Amazon.

Here is one of the ladies operating a bulb testing machine at the factory in 1955. I wonder if she, or a relative, is reading this??

One thing leads to another, and The Starlights were pictured playing at a Luxram Electric social in 1955. I know nothing about the members,

but maybe someone else does?

The famous Luton Girls Choir performing at the Central Hall in Chatham in November 1957.

(now familiar as the Central Theatre but formerly the first Bank in Chatham, the London and County, later belonging to the Chatham Wesleyan Mission - hence the seating arrangements, ideal for getting a good view of the Preacher!)

Their creator and musical director was Arthur Ernest Davies (born 1897), a church choirmaster in 1936 when he developed the choir. It was stipulated that only unmarried girls aged between twelve and twenty-three, and resident within a five-mile radius of Luton, need apply.

The girls were extremely well disciplined and applicants had to accept his methods which resulted in utter dedication. He even devised a technique which took the edge off the girls' local accents, so that words of the songs came across more clearly.

They were not a professional choir, and indeed paid 4d a week for the privilege of being a member. A charitable trust was set up in their name which raised £100,000.

They recorded for the radio between the 1940s and 1960s, and I'm sure I remember them singing 'Nymphs and Shepherds' during a school broadcast in the early 1950s. In 1947 they performed in St. Paul's Cathedral for Queen Mary's 80th Birthday, and the following year they were at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. In 1950 they kicked off a tour with visits to Belfast and Denmark. Two years after this photograph was taken they were in Australia and New Zealand.

After Mr Davies died in 1977 the trustees and the girls decided there would be no choir without him and their ultimate performance was on 5th November 1977, a tribute to the great man who now had MBE attached to his name.



                    Abuse of  copyright will be dealt with under the copyright law.

Introduction; Strood May Day

In 1945 a thirty-four year old engineer called Dudley Blount expanded his interest in industrial photography   by opening his own studio at 11 Watts Place Chatham. He expanded his repertoire into social, wedding,
portraiture, medical and commercial photography.

In the 1950s he was forced to leave his premises as Chatham Town Council had plans to demolish the area
to build a department store. I believe he spent a period of his career working from under the stage at the Theatre Royal, and during this time he covered the productions that took place there.

Somewhere between these two places a few boxes of negatives went missing (which included coverage of

a Dickens Festival in Rochester). One day they may come to light and I hereby claim their possession!
In the early 1950s he bought a property, previously Percy Hedgecock gents' outfitters, opposite what was then Rochester railway station.

In 1961 Philip Towner joined him there, having served an apprenticeship with Sloman and Pettit in Pudding Lane Maidstone.  Dudley died in 1962 at the tender age of fifty-one.

Penelope Robertson joined the Company there in 1965, and they married in 1970. After thirty-two years of marriage he died in 2002, at an auspicious time in the history of photography, as digitalisation had arrived.

Using the new technology I put together a collection of the archived photographs and published a tribute to
Dudley Studios and all who worked there through the years.

It was well received and I felt satisfied I had done my bit, but with so many other photographs that folk might be interested in, I felt it my duty to share some more of them.  Nostalgia is not age-related, and old photographs on facebook pages are constantly stirring memories and imaginations of both young and old.

The rise in popularity of social media jeopardised possible sales of the book, and I am constantly witnessing breaches of copyright. This has caused me to reconsider a previous decision to produce another one. Time and money spent on research is wasted when someone breaks the law by copying and displaying a treasured photograph without even a reference to its' origin. At the end of the day, in my gathered experience, most people just want to see an old photograph. This is what I am offering, and the viewer can opt to disregard my ramblings if they so wish!

The Dudley Studios Collection is privately owned and is an inheritance for my children and theirs. One of them may wish to use them quite differently in the future; therefore each image is embedded with an obvious, but hopefully not intrusive, copyright symbol, which should not spoil your viewing pleasure.

Abuse of this copyright will be dealt with under the copyright law.

Comments and discussions will be welcome - indeed appreciated.

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Just to whet your appetite I'm kicking off with appropriate photographs selected from the annual May Day celebrations at Temple Farm Strood in 1953, the same year as our 90 year-old Queen Elizabeth was crowned.

                              Future postings will be irregular but varied, so watch this space