Whenever I find myself at the Harwich Museum I seem to spend most of my time scouring old editions of the Harwich Standard looking for anything that is interesting or might be useful for research elsewhere – safe to say my notes are full of all sorts of stories and snippets. From these available editions (covering 1956-1965) I have ended up with plenty of stand-alone pieces that wouldn’t really be worth fleshing out into their own posts, but are notable in their own right, so let’s look at some of these.
For over a century, the Mayflower has been intertwined with the history of Harwich, and never more so than in 1960. Back in those days, Harwich used to hold a Summer Carnival, complete with floats much like the Guy Carnival, and local builders Gordon & Co decided theirs that year should be a replica of the famous pilgrim vessel. It was so good that it won first prize in the “non-commercial” category, and was considered one of the Carnival’s best ever floats.
While construction was taking place of replica ships, destruction was taking place elsewhere. “Area No. 1”, as it was called, was a section of old Harwich earmarked for regeneration, covering much of the east of the town. The images below show two stages: The left is on King’s Head Street (in front of Hopkins Lane, towards Market Street), where flats were soon to be put up, while the right shows the buildings surrounding the Wellington Inn before they were demolished (though the Welly stayed open throughout).
Similarly, the recently-closed Alexandra Hotel on Dovercourt seafront was undergoing a transition of its own, into the care home we know it as today:
Closures were part and parcel of life, especially during post-war recovery. Separate articles explained that 14 pubs had closed in Harwich between 1921-1961, while a letter from 1960 stated that since 1929 “five butchers, five bakers, three jewellers, six clothing, one chemist, three fishmongers, three hardware, four grocers, one newsagent, three shoe menders, one bank and several smaller shops have closed“, again all in Harwich. At least in the latter’s case, some were replaced, but the point was strong and clear.
To come full circle, in response to the closures and demolitions, a Standard editor suggested a museum should be opened, in order to preserve as much as possible. With the suggestion that “Harwich has fallen into decay“, the push for showing the positive and historical side of the area shares parallels with the present day:
Finally, let’s have a brief look at three pieces of footballing history. The first is the most fascinating – a photo of the Manningtree United squad from 1895 was sent in by one of the two survivors of the squad, Percy Bloom, in 1961:
Of significance to Harwich & Parkeston fans is that two of those pictured would go on to play for the Shrimpers – goalie E. Boast, standing tall in the back with a crest just visible on his shirt, and captain F. Taylor, in front of Boast with the shield, apparently earned for finishing top of Divison 2 of the North Essex League that season. Bloom himself was to Taylor’s left.
Back to the “present”, of 1960, and as mentioned on my Twitter, the football journalist of the Standard was rather miffed that Harwich & Parkeston had been overlooked by Essex county selectors in recent years:
The example given here of Terry Howard was a perfect one, if a little exceptional. Howard moved to Hendon at the end of the 1958-59 season, was suddenly recognised as a big talent (a later piece mopes that “his skill was only recognised when he left Harwich for Hendon“), and a year later found himself playing for the British Olympic team. In fact, he even played for the England amateur team shortly after this (for context, another man who played for the England amateurs in 1960 was Terry Venables).
To end, here is a small self-explanatory piece from March 1961, explaining the Shrimpers’ current crest:
Harwicensis 