KENNY TABOR
IN CONVERSATION WITH HIS SISTER
JEAN GOODYEAR
Click on the arrow below to hear Kenny & Jean's audio track
Recorded with the assistance of Julian May
Recorded with the assistance of Julian May
00.00 Wartime memories 04.18 Education & Robinson's Iron Yard 06.54 River my playground 10.51 Scary times on Union Wharf 13.51 Union Wharf characters
18.37 Take overs & the demise of the industry 23.01 Iron trade in decline 25.23 Origin of the name Tabor 26.05 Film stars in the Union Tavern
27.07 Sailing barges and Sun tugs 32.34 Crane driving apprenticeship 34.08 Barge larks & a brush with the police 35.19 Ingots on Lovell's Wharf
35.49 Changing times
18.37 Take overs & the demise of the industry 23.01 Iron trade in decline 25.23 Origin of the name Tabor 26.05 Film stars in the Union Tavern
27.07 Sailing barges and Sun tugs 32.34 Crane driving apprenticeship 34.08 Barge larks & a brush with the police 35.19 Ingots on Lovell's Wharf
35.49 Changing times
Click on the images to enlarge
Steel being loaded by one of the Scotch Derrick cranes at Lovell's Wharf. Below the Wharf from the Harbour Master's Office
Robinson's Iron Yard from the river and right on the approach to Union Wharf along the Thames Path
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Steam cranes on Union Wharf and Scotch derricks on Lovell's with Robinson's Iron Yard in the background, an everyday scene until the industrial decline in the 1990s
Courtesy of Greenwich Heritage Centre 
A scene from The List of Adrian Messenger one of the films Kenny recalls being made
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Kenny Tabor lived and worked most of his life on and around the waterfront in East Greenwich. He began his working life aged 15 as an apprentice on Alexander Sun tugs but came ashore and was taken on at C.A.Robinson's Iron Wharf, like his father and grandfather before him. He became a skilled crane driver and subsequently worked loading containers at Victoria Deep Water Terminal. He later moved to Lovell's Wharf where he operated the Scotch Derrick cranes until the industry declined and he retired and moved away. He vividly recalls growing up in the Blitz and remembers with great affection the close-knit community of family, neighbours and workmates on Union Wharf. He vividly evokes the working life aboard sailing barges and tugs and mourns the passing of an era when the river was filled with shipping and commercial activity. While accepting the inevitability of change, he urges the rediscovery of the many recreational pleasures that the river can bring to future generations.
Launching a barge at Piper's Wharf
Courtesy of Larry Bonds |