Roberta Donnan continues.....

"My father always hankered after starting holiday homes there and really wanted to buy the site of the Canvey Hotel - this would be in the late 1950's I think. Later in about 1969 he bought a bungalow on the island. The ditches and dykes were full of wild life - lizards I recall and frogs and butterflies."

Roberts's parents (new) Canvey bungalow in 1969 - We believe it was called COURT HOPE

"My particular favourite walk was along the Point, I was fascinated by the dried up sea creatures marooned when the tide went out. The Lobster Smack was pleasant too - of course we walked everywhere, and on this walk passed one of the Dutch Cottages, which I recall was still inhabited then.

I remember Small Gains Corner too, and the Admiral Jellicoe. (The Red Cow was) renamed The King Canute after the flood.

The train from London stopped at Benfleet. canvey really was an island in those days, and we had to get on a bus and enter Canvey over a bridge. I understood Benfleet was popular in Roman times because of its oyster beds. I also enjoyed visiting Hadleigh Castle and looking down on Canvey Island. From that height it was fascinating to see it's watery contours."

Steam Train passing the creek in 1952