Alvin Finch

A Memory of Hullbridge.

Yes, I remember Alvin Finch. He was an excellent artist. My father supplied the carnival float for the 1953 carnival (I think it was that year I was only 8 at the time). My brother Alan Downes who was 19 years old at the time (unfortunatly now deceased) had a girlfreind whose name I think was Jennifer and she was the carnival queen in that year. My father made a butterfly out of paper mache at the cab end of a large flat bed coal lorry which stood about 10 feet high which was painted in beautiful colours by Alvin Finch who was a friend of my father's. The head of the butterfly was where the queen sat, she was about 6 feet in the air. Alvin Finch done all the paintings on boards all around the edge of the lorry. Beautiful scenes of clowns, trees and fields in really bold colours. I think Alvin lived in Windermere Avenue and was a bit of a recluse. I vividly remember on the way to Southend carnival a few weeks later that the wings of the butterfly got caught in the trees along the lower road and we had quite a panic as my dad repaired it before we could carry on. It woud be interesting to see if anybody has photographs of the carnival from 1953. It would be lovely to see them. I will keep posted on this site to see.
I attended Hullbridge Primary School from 1950 until 1955 and then went to Rayleigh Secondary Modern from 1955 until 1960.
Mike Downes.