Roy transported us back to when the London Dock system made the Thames a thriving and busy river, and you could obtain a dock pass, until 1972, and visit the docks and photograph ships alongside. These were days before heightened security, and days before �Health & Safety� regulations. Roy would ride his trusty motorcycle and sidecar combination and visit the West India and Royal Docks on a Saturday and Tilbury on a Sunday.
We made a start in the West India Docks and then on to the Royal Docks with visits to shipping in the River on several occasions, unfortunately time did not allow us to complete the journey to Tilbury but we will be able to enjoy this on another occasion. At the West India docks Ben Line, Ellerman Lines, Clan Line, and Common Brothers stirred many memories with photographs of the ships they owned. The mercy ship Doulos was also shown, dating from1914 and still in service today! Also pictures of Harison liners, Union Castle ships and a shot of GSN Co.�s Royal Daffodil laid up before her scrapping in the Netherlands in 1967. A picture of BI�s Kenya paying off before scrapping was particularly evocative.
We were treated to pictures of ships of the Holder Brother�s Duquesa, and Hornby Grange and a rare shot in London Docks of the Manchester Lines, Manchester Commerce.
All those companies that those of us of a �certain age� remember so well were featured in this show, Cunard; Blue Star; Blue Funnel; Shaw Saville; British India; Elder Dempster; Ellerman; Royal Mail and P&O to name just a few. Foreign lines were not neglected with representatives of Holland America; United Netherlands and U.S. Lines.
Photographs of the docks during the 1966 seamen�s strike showed the docks to capacity with many ships doubled up alongside each other.
Not many of us in the late fifties and early sixties could see an end to this cavalcade of shipping visiting our doorstep here on the Thames. If we had we would all have a classic collection of slides like those shown on this DVD.
Thank you to Roy for all those weekends in the docks taking pictures, and to Alan for coming with the necessary equipment to display them.