Do you have a long memory? We’d love to hear from you!
After the popular local history documentary we made last year for Heritage Open Days we are starting to make another one. This time we are hoping to make a history of the area as told by you! We are looking for residents that have lived in the area for a long time and would like to participate in a short interview, to record their memories for posterity.
Do you remember what the streets were like many years ago? Perhaps you have memories of attending EP Collier School or St Paul’s church, or going to some of the shops that are no longer there. Or did you or someone you know work for a local business such as Drews or Cox & Wyman? And if you have any old photos that you can share with us we would be particularly pleased to see them!
We hope to interview residents on camera in their gardens (with appropriate social distancing as necessary) during the summer months when the weather is warm enough to sit outside in comfort. If you prefer not to be filmed we could make an audio recording instead.
Can you help us? If you are interested please contact David at david@bell-tower.org.uk or on 07890 118167.
Our first local history documentary is still available to watch at www.bell-tower.org.uk/caversham-road-documentary.
The saw mill / timber yard at the corner of Caversham Rd & Vastern Rd was a family run business in the name of Geo Lewis, the of which was emblazoned in the chimney. The business was run from approx 1870 – 1960 by 3 generations of the Lewis family. The family lived in the house almost opposite at number 99, which subsequently became a camping and tent firm. The entrepreneur George Lewis also was responsible for building houses in Caversham Rd and Newport Rd. He also acquired De Montfort island to allow the company to offload timber, which was shipped along the Thames from a dock in London after being shipped from Riga, then in Russia. He also built barges to carry the timber on the island. The wooden building may still be there and was subsequently used by the Reading Rowing club before they moved to Cawstons premises at the former Caversham Bridge Hotel. Timber from the yard supplied the burgeoning house building programme in the latter half of the 19th Century and after the 1914-18 War the public with varieties of hardwood from including English hardwoods, particularly quartered oak.