Editorial
September 2021
A month ago we published a book, Islington Boys, which was based on our personal history of growing up in our borough and attending Barnsbury Boys School. Friends Reunited kick-started it all, and this led into regular emails which were circulated between alumni. Eventually I was asked if we had a website and upon my negative reply, was recommended to Weebly which was free to non-profit organisations. Barnsbury Boys School website was born.
I knew that I couldn’t do it on my own so I emailed an old friend, Barry Page, who lives in Canada, and after explaining to him what I was trying to do, wondered if he would like to co-edit the site with me. I could not have asked a better person; we complemented each other perfectly. Barry then set about gathering the school history while I wrote to everyone on our email list and told them what we were doing. Their response was enough to know that we had moved in the right direction. Threads began, members responded, contributing their school experiences - good or bad, and they were all (mostly) uploaded to the website.
However, as time moved on, the stories and anecdotes began to encompass our everyday lives; where we lived, our families, where we went, what we got up to, and many other topics, all of which our generation can relate to. In doing so, this developed into a social history of our time and circumstances, which has generally, but not exclusively, covered a span of thirty years from the 40s to the 60s.
Our book - your book, has been extremely well received. First print run has sold out and a second ordered. Members who only occasionally contributed to the website found themselves mere shadows in the book, and so when Barry and I announced that we were contemplating a second book which would be open to all Islington boys, those same members told me that they were already putting fingers to keypad with their experiences. They did not want to miss out a second time, which says it all. But make no mistake, without you my friends, the book would not exist. Barry and I thank you dearly for that.
James Sanderson
A month ago we published a book, Islington Boys, which was based on our personal history of growing up in our borough and attending Barnsbury Boys School. Friends Reunited kick-started it all, and this led into regular emails which were circulated between alumni. Eventually I was asked if we had a website and upon my negative reply, was recommended to Weebly which was free to non-profit organisations. Barnsbury Boys School website was born.
I knew that I couldn’t do it on my own so I emailed an old friend, Barry Page, who lives in Canada, and after explaining to him what I was trying to do, wondered if he would like to co-edit the site with me. I could not have asked a better person; we complemented each other perfectly. Barry then set about gathering the school history while I wrote to everyone on our email list and told them what we were doing. Their response was enough to know that we had moved in the right direction. Threads began, members responded, contributing their school experiences - good or bad, and they were all (mostly) uploaded to the website.
However, as time moved on, the stories and anecdotes began to encompass our everyday lives; where we lived, our families, where we went, what we got up to, and many other topics, all of which our generation can relate to. In doing so, this developed into a social history of our time and circumstances, which has generally, but not exclusively, covered a span of thirty years from the 40s to the 60s.
Our book - your book, has been extremely well received. First print run has sold out and a second ordered. Members who only occasionally contributed to the website found themselves mere shadows in the book, and so when Barry and I announced that we were contemplating a second book which would be open to all Islington boys, those same members told me that they were already putting fingers to keypad with their experiences. They did not want to miss out a second time, which says it all. But make no mistake, without you my friends, the book would not exist. Barry and I thank you dearly for that.
James Sanderson
June 2022
It is Sunday the twelfth and, providing the printers are happy with our PDF email, we shall be going to print this week with our latest book, titled
Islington Boys and Girls. Barry and I decided to accept submissions from anyone living in Islington and were surprised and delighted to find that many baby boomers retained their parents' stories and sent them along to us. Said tales confirmed to us how tough times really were in post-war Islington. In contrast, many people who had purchased the first book, submitted their stories and confirmed just how privileged and smart we were in taking advantage of the opportunities that came our way. Very few of us Barnsbury alumni went to university, but that did not make one iota of difference. We took our chances and prospered as the many tales and anecdotes will show. Again, Barry and I thank you all for your support. You are this book and you provide a genuine social commentary of what inner London life was like in the middle of the twentieth century. The stories of your later years provide a real and satisfactory end to this second book.
James Sanderson
It is Sunday the twelfth and, providing the printers are happy with our PDF email, we shall be going to print this week with our latest book, titled
Islington Boys and Girls. Barry and I decided to accept submissions from anyone living in Islington and were surprised and delighted to find that many baby boomers retained their parents' stories and sent them along to us. Said tales confirmed to us how tough times really were in post-war Islington. In contrast, many people who had purchased the first book, submitted their stories and confirmed just how privileged and smart we were in taking advantage of the opportunities that came our way. Very few of us Barnsbury alumni went to university, but that did not make one iota of difference. We took our chances and prospered as the many tales and anecdotes will show. Again, Barry and I thank you all for your support. You are this book and you provide a genuine social commentary of what inner London life was like in the middle of the twentieth century. The stories of your later years provide a real and satisfactory end to this second book.
James Sanderson