Kindred Spirits - Ipswich of yesteryear comes alive in colour
A cargo vessel in Ipswich Dock in 1959 viewed from near the Custom House. In the background is the works of Ransomes Sims and Jefferies and the gas works. The crane on the right is on TovellÕs Wharf. (Photo by Keith Deal).
A Felixstowe reader has shared a set of great colour photographs he took of Ipswich in 1959.
Keith Deal lists this photograph as the coffee bar in Upper Brook Street, Ipswich. It was probably ÔThe GondolierÕ. Do you remember this popular meeting place and its juke box?
Keith Deal’s photos were taken in a time when most people took very few photographs. Holidays and very special events were the only time the family camera came out. Many of the photographs then were taken in black and white.
• See how the town has changed with our transitional image hereThe Star’s negative files are black and white until the late 1980s when presses were installed to print colour.
The more enthusiastic amateur photographers took colour transparencies. Exposed films were sent to the manufacturers, such as Kodak or Agfa, as processing was pre-paid. It was several weeks before your results came back.
Mr Deal said: “I read Kindred Spirits with great interest as I lived in Ipswich in the 1950s. I was raised in Southwold, but at the age of 15 I went to school at the Ipswich School of
Princes Street, Ipswich, on a market day in 1959, when a pig had escaped from the weekly livestock market that took place on either side of the road. ChurchmanÕs cigarette factory in Portman Road is in the background. The Drum and Monkey public house is now in the centre of this view. (Photo by Keith Deal).
Commerce and Social Studies in Argyle Street.
“It was there I met my future wife, Jenny. The ISCSS was a great place to be taught. The school’s principal was Harry Benner, a very pleasant man, he
always seemed to have a smile on his face. If you had to be told off he would not rant and rave but quietly point out the error of your ways, which made you feel small and how stupid you had been.
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“The teachers were a good bunch, some did not seem to be much older than the oldest students.
Ipswich Dock from Neptune Quay looking towards Wherry Quay, Common Quay and Albion Wharf 1n 1959. (Photo by Keith Deal).
“I remember one place we went to, sometimes at lunch break, was Footman’s restaurant. Being students we could not afford a proper meal so we had the cheapest, which was a portion of chips. The restaurant was a large carpeted area with tables covered in clean white tablecloths, and comfortable chairs.
“Waitresses in clean black dresses and white aprons, with perfect hairdos, brought the portions of chips in hot silver-plated dishes with lids, and acted as though we were important customers.
“I left ISCSS in 1957 and went to the Tower Ramparts Technical College for a year and then left Ipswich. It was when I retired in 2005 that we came back to this area, but to Felixstowe instead of Ipswich.”
Do you have photographs of the town, either colour or black and white, from decades ago, that you would like to share with Kindred Spirits readers?
Ipswich Dock. Keith Deal took this picture of Albion Wharf and Common Quay in 1959.
Email Kindred Spirits with your memories and photos.
