Page 19
Call Sign November 2011
Some out there may not believe what we are
It's a small
about to tell you, but we swear that it's true.
The last issue of Call Sign saw a caption com-
petition using a photo that Board member
Tom Whitbread found while following his
world... Ask
hobby of looking through the London
Metropolitan Archives. It was probably dated
at the end of the 19th or early 20th century
and is of the residents of Providence Court,
Mike Son!
which came off Stoney Lane, Houndsditch.
There were 229 entries into the competi-
tion, but none of them could have guessed
that the photo would actually turn out to be a
family picture albeit of an earlier generation
- of Tom's fellow Board member, Mike Son!
And no one was more shocked than Mike
Son! He told Call Sign:
"I was looking through the magazine when
I came to the page where the photo caption
competition was. I stared at it for a moment
wondering where I had seen the photo
before. Then it suddenly came to me. The
people in the photo were some of my rela-
tives! I really couldn't believe it. I had seen the
photo many years earlier but it just vanished
and is probably at the back of a wardrobe
somewhere.
Of course, they were younger in the photo
than when I remember seeing them at a much
more advanced age - especially Auntie (little)
Lily, Uncle (little) Henry and Auntie Katie De
Haan. Why were they nicknamed `little'? Need
I say more than we had a big Lily and a long
Henry!
As a youngster, I remember Aunt Katie ran
a fairground, travelling to many towns. One
town in particular was Walthamstow, with the
fair setting up close to Hoe Street. I doubt
there'd be much room there for a fair nowa-
Mike Son's family - discovered via an archive photo
days, but back then my dad would take me to
the fair and let me help out on one of the
THE SALIERI RESTAURANT
stalls - usually the darts stall. I was supposed
to look after it while Auntie Katie visited the
other fairground stands.
376 Strand, WC2
When she returned, my treat was to throw
the darts to see if I could hit the envelopes
placed on a wooden floor within the stall.
We Invite Dial-a-Cab drivers and their guests to our
Most times there were three penny piece
restaurant where you can partake of the finest food and wine
coins inside, but some contained a half-
And as a thank-you for helping our clients come
crown. Whether I hit the target or not, Auntie
Katie always made sure I `won' the half-
and go over the years, we are happy to be able to
crown!
offer you a genuine 25% discount on your bill
I recall them being wonderful, no-nonsense
characters - very tough but they always cher-
We are certain that you will be delighted
ished the family and were great to be with.
Seeing the photo in Call Sign and then
writing this piece has brought back many lost
memories of visiting the tenements with my
father on a Sunday and smelling the aroma of
chicken soup.
You may wonder what the thing at the back
of the scene is? Well it's a costermonger's stall.
Please bring along your badge or Bill as ID
We take for granted all the amenities and
advantages we have now, but in those diffi-
Salieri Restaurant
cult times it must have been a day-to-day
376 Strand, WC2
struggle just to survive.
It would be interesting to know what mem-
Reservations: 020 7836 1318
ories others may have from those distant
days."
