Monday, 19 September 2011

Maxie Lea MBE - a well earned tribute




The Spitalfields Life site has done Maxie, and the club, proud by this excellent and well illustrated tribute to a man who has literally devoted most of his life to the C&BG Boys Club.

Use this link to take you to the site: http://spitalfieldslife.com/
Borrowed from that website and with many thanks & due acknowledgement are two of Maxie's snaps, the first showing Maxie in football strip and the second with Victor Monger, at the tender age of eleven.

Also shown is a fine portrait by professional photographer Jeremy Freedman, Maxie's nephew, who's website is: http://jeremyfreedman.com/

After you have read the article use the links at the end of it to access the other stories about the club:

The Return of Aubrey Silkoff

Ron Goldstein of Boreham St

At the Cambridge & Bethnal Green Boys Club 86th Annual Reunion

Aubrey Goldsmith of Shoreditch

Monday, 5 September 2011

The Annual Re-union, 5th September 2011









Thanks to the sterling work of the Club Committee, we met once again at the Imperial Hotel and a super time was had by all.

One of the highlights of the evening was provided by guest speaker Martin Sugarman who gave us a masterly account of Jack Nissenthal's actions during the famous Dieppe Raid of August 1942.

Martin, Archivist to AJEX and a long time personal friend, has recently written a fine book "Fighting Back" which covers the contribution made my British Jewry in WW2 and copies of this book were eagerly snapped up by a very appreciative audience.

We look forward to next year's re-union...... don't miss it !

Amongst the snaps taken and pictured above were Alfie Mendosa, a sprightly 92 year old and seen here with Martin Sugarman and I, and we were once again delighted to see Syd Tabor. Joe Brandez was also at my table with his son Simon and that's him making one of the evening's toasts.

The Hiller boys once again closed the evening to a very appreciative audience.

Finally, if any readers of this Blog have a favourite picture taken at the function send them to me as an e-mail attachment and I will publish them here.

Ron

Tuesday, 5 April 2011

Found whilst GOOGLING on the internet

By pure chance I came across this obituary in the RCS (Royal College of Surgeons) website.

The old C&BG club produced some lovely men, Paul Abbey was just one of them.

Biographical entry
Abbey, Paul (1920 - 2008)
FRCS 1953; MB BS London 1944; DLO 1958.

Born 6 January 1920
London, UK
Died10 September 2008
Occupation ENT surgeon
Details
Paul Abbey was a consultant ENT surgeon in the Windsor area. He was born on 6 January 1920 in Stoke Newington, London, the son of M Abbey, who had arrived in the UK in 1911 from Lodz in Poland. He was the youngest of four children – there were two older brothers and one older sister. The family lived in a two-bedroom flat until Paul was about 4½ years old, when they moved to Bethnal Green into rooms above a small factory in a converted pub. He attended primary school in Teesdale Street, where he was bullied, and in the evenings he went to Hebrew classes at the same school. At the age of 11, Paul started at the Central School, where his form teacher, Mr Jones, decided that he should try for a scholarship to Parmiter’s, the local grammar school, which was a successful move. Paul’s barmitzvah took place at Teesdale Street Synagogue when he was 13. He was an active member of the Jewish Boys Club and the Cambridge and Bethnal Green Club, taking part in swimming and gymnastics, as well as summer camps near Herne Bay. In the senior years at school Paul became a prefect, and became the school’s most successful sportsman, excelling at gymnastics, swimming and football. When Paul was 15, he bought himself a racing bicycle from James Goose in Holborn, which he paid off at 2/6 per week. He and his brother Manny would take off on camping holidays by bike, once as far as the Isle of Wight.

In 1939, he passed his Senior County exams and was accepted as a student at Westminster Hospital. When war was declared, the Westminster was evacuated to Glasgow, but a friend told him about a vacancy at the London Hospital which was evacuating its medical college to Cambridge. He applied and started in October 1939.

Paul qualified in 1944 and then became receiving room officer, house surgeon to A M A Moore and the gynaecological firm, and then house physician to A E Clarke-Kennedy. He joined the RAF medical service in February 1945 and was posted to India, where he spent two enjoyable years, rising to squadron leader. He made friends with the RAF transport pilots. He would wander out to the airfield and see whether a DC-3 was due to take off. “Hi doc”, the pilots would yell from the cockpit. “Just off to Jaipur. Want to come along for the ride? Hop on, old chap, we’ll list you as additional freight.” He eventually learnt to fly himself in Tiger Moth planes and kept his linen flying helmet and goggles as souvenirs.

On demobilisation, he returned to the London Hospital for three years, at first as a supernumerary registrar to Clive Butler in the septic ward, where penicillin was effecting a radical change in the management of osteomyelitis. He then moved to the King George Hospital in Ilford, initially as a house surgeon for six months, followed by three years as a surgical registrar, during which time he passed the FRCS.

In December 1954, Paul decided to specialise in ENT. He started work at the Royal National Throat, Nose and Ear Hospital, where he became a senior registrar and then moved to a similar post at St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington. In May 1961, Paul obtained his first ENT consultant appointment at Southampton General Hospital. Two years later he applied successfully for a more advantageous ENT consultant post with the Windsor group of hospitals, where he spent the rest of his career.

When he arrived in the area, Wexham Park Hospital was being built, and Paul had a large hand in the design of the ENT department. A firm believer in the original values and mission of the NHS, he disapproved of the many bureaucratic reorganisations that began in the 1970s.

He published numerous articles, delivered lectures and belonged to many committees and councils, including the ENT section of the Royal Society of Medicine and the British Association of Otolaryngologists. He was particularly proud of designing a new surgical instrument which bears his name. In 1985 he retired from the NHS, but continued in private practice for several more years and became a surgical member of the Medical Appeals Tribunal for Industrial Injuries.

Outside medicine, Paul’s great love was sailing. In the days before mobile phones, it was the ultimate escape from the stress of hospital life – out on the water he was completely unreachable. For many years he had an Enterprise dinghy and would tow this boat down to Cornwall every year for family holidays. Later, he teamed up with two friends to purchase the St Brigid, a 32-foot sailing cruiser which they moored down at Lymington on the south coast. Paul spent a lot of his spare time on St Brigid, including two weeks sailing in the English Channel every summer. He studied for his yachtmaster’s qualification, joined the Royal Lymington Yacht Club and even bought a house in Lymington. The whole family was involved in Paul’s sailing. Paul married Joan née Singer in March 1952. Jocelyn was born in April 1956 and Bryony came along four years later, in May 1960. Joan took navigation courses and their two children were co-opted as deck hands during school holidays.

Paul was a great wine enthusiast, and he and Joan travelled extensively around Europe, and visited Australia, the USA and South Africa. Above all, Paul loved being with other people – he liked having an audience, he was great company and always entertaining. This world will be a duller place without him.

Wednesday, 23 March 2011

Max Lee MBE on Ron Fellman

Since posting the article below I have received the following details from Maxie:

The group photo, from the left, shows "T", Ron Fellman, Bernard Fellerman, Joe Monger, Max Lea, Leslie Addison & Ralph Young. The "Trio" photo shows Leslie, Ron & Bernard and the 2nd snap shows Ron at Oxford & St.Georges. The last snap shows "T" & Ron.

Maxie goes on to write as follows:

Ron was Club Leader at the Virginia Rd School premises approximately 1950-1956 when we came under the GLC.

He was a very quiet man and well respected both by the management committee and the boys who came under his wing. He organised camps at Shackleford and Badger Hall, hikes and holidays abroad and kept things going very efficiently until his departure to Birmingham when David Greenhalgh (Weasel) took over from him

Apart from being Club Leader, he was a personal friend to all the other managers which at the time included Leslie Addinson, Ralph Young and myself.

He was badly missed when he first moved to Birmingham and now he will be sorely missed by all who knew him.

He was indeed a very lovely man.

Max Lea MBE

Wednesday, 16 March 2011

Ron Fellman - In Memoriam


I have recently been in correspondence with Liz Fellman who has regretfully informed me that her dear father Ron Fellman has passed away during the past weekend.

Liz has also sent me the attached photos and comments that are self explanatory.

Dear Ron
Many thanks for your quick reply, and your kind wishes
I am attaching a scan of 4 photos from my father's younger days. My father is 2nd from left in the group photo at the station , in the centre of the group of 3, and on the right hand side of the two in front of the tent. I hope they come out ok - I just had the borrow a neighbour's scanner!
If you were able to post the photos on your blog, that would be very kind of you. I would be interested to see if anyone responds and has any information about what my father was like/what he did during his time with the Boys Club.
In addition to some issues of the Boys' Club annual report, I have also found a menu/toast list for the Holland-on-Sea Camp Banquet for Saturday 7 August 1954. my father is listed as Chairman, and giving the toast to the Queen.
I dont know if this will help you work out the time period my father was involved with the club?
Liz Fellman