The portrait (or at least one of them) of E.K.Cole used to hang for many years in the Ecko Social and Sports Club. |
My father Cyril Andrews used to run the band that played at the club almost every weekend for about 20 years. He used to work in the Ekco factory and I believe can be seen on the 16mm film described on this website, entertaining at one of the Christmas parties for employees' children. |
At Christmas the clubhouse used to be very elaborately decorated, with the usual baubles, tinsel, trimmings and also often with Disney characters and such fairy-tale themes hand-painted by the talented Barbara Pearman who was the club secretary for years. |
Reg Earle used to run the club and I believe he died of a heart attack whilst driving his car. He lived in St. Bennet's Road in Southend, just around the corner from the Ekco factory. |
On New Year's Eve at midnight the decorations used to be torn down by the revellers welcoming in the New Year! What vandalism! I had the "Cinderella's Castle" Barbara painted and subsequently gave to me on my bedroom walls as a child.
I used to go to the Christmas parties in the canteen at Southend as my dad used to entertain us kids. The Christmas parties used to be themed - one year it was a cowboys / wild west idea and another year it was a "pirates of the Caribbean" set and so on.
My dad dressed as Captain Kidd did not fool me, oh no, "yo-ho-ho". Every child got a gift (one year I got a wind-up tin-plate tank) and we all got a bag of sweets and an orange each! It was truly brilliant - it really was! We had sandwiches, bottles of "pop" and jelly trifles! |
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After a fun-filled afternoon my dad and the band would pack-up their instruments and move to the clubhouse to provide the entertainment and music for dancing for the "grown-ups" that night. |
Does anyone remember this?? Did anyone go to the E.S.S.C. in Southend and do they remember my father and his band? |
The only original surviving member now is a chap called Walter "Wally" Seago who used to play piano. |
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