Kind words from the brilliant Stan Dyson

This morning, we were delighted to see the following post on the Newham Story forum from Stan Dyson, an expert on the history of Silvertown who helped us out with our research for The Sugar Girls.

A Brilliant Book!  Both Joan and I, having worked at T&L, had a bit of input and received a draft manuscript prior to publication.  It's the only book that Joan read from cover to cover in just three nights.  For three nights in bed I had to moan 'For Gods sake turn the side light off!'  She thoroughly enjoyed it and so did I afterwards.  Gritty real life stories and chances are you will know some of the characters!  We were delighted to have received a paperback copy direct from Harper Collins today and Joan said she's now going to read it all again because with the draft manuscript she kept on getting the pages mixed up.  Turn that bloody light off!!!   Happy reading! – Stan

Stan and his wife Joan both worked for Tate & Lyle, and some of her stories feature in the book – for example the time she got her revenge on a manager who had groped her sister in the corridor.  They are a lovely couple and, despite having since moved out to Essex, told us that they would go back to the Silvertown of the 1950s and 1960s in an instant if they had the chance.

A few years ago Stan published a memoir of growing up in Silvertown, Silvertown Life. It's a fascinating read and well worth checking out, as is his gallery of old photographs on the Docklands Memories website.

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