Roberta Donnan writes.....

"My parents and grandparents used to stay on the island before the war and my parents actually took me to Canvey for a holiday during the war where I recall being given candy and chocolate by American sailors who were either on shore leave or moored off shore. Much of the shore had barbed wire all along it.

We had many holidays in various parts of the island until about 1957. My father used to sit on the sea wall (much lower then before the flood) and sketch ships passing up the estuary."

One of Roberts Paintings - Thames Barges by the Chapman Lighthouse

[Click HERE for more of Robert's Paintings]

"There always seemed to be a lot more in those days, when the London Docks were still very busy. One day my mother rescued a little girl who had swum out too far - there is another "old" sea wall further out, always a danger to swimmers I thought."

Roberta with the old Sea Wall in the background, that was lost in the 1881 floods

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