Carole Peck (Nee Disney)
Memories of a 12 year old in the Canvey Island Floods. 1953 - Part 1

"I had just started my new school in Leigh-on-Sea. It was a bus, train and bus ride away from where we lived at the furthest point on Canvey Island. Westcliffe High School for Girls. The uniform was our most treasured possession at the time. Our bungalow was the normal style that was used for holiday makers to escape from the east end of London, except my grandparents had bought it as well as their own when they retired from North Finchley."

The Bungalow 'Sylvesta' in Chapman Road Canvey

"My Father had decided to go there after the war, to start his own business and we started off in that bungalow. It was very prettily decorated with cockle shells on the outside walls. It was called 'Sylvester' (after the name of the road my Grandparents had moved from), and it was in Chapman Road (named after Chapman Lighthouse) which was only three bungalows away and over the sea wall, out in the Thames estuary"