Talking With Tom Ash

The Southwark Park reminiscence project – “Our Park” – involves capturing local people’s memories. On Monday I met with Tom Ash, a retired docker, aged 82, who lives on the Rotherhithe and Deptford boundary. He has lived in the area all his life. It was a really enjoyable session, not so much for what Tom could tell me about the park, but more for his obvious passion for books about London, the docks and the sea. Tom is an author himself, having self-published a lively account of growing up in Bermondsey, called “Childhood Days.” He kindly gave me a signed copy of his book, and because of the slowness of my journey home after I left him, I had it read by the time I reached my front door.

The book is very episodic, but enjoyable, and it contains some excellent insights into a docker’s working environment in the 1950s and 1960s. There is a chapter on docker’s slang, and a few are worth quoting to give you a flavour:

“Come Back When the Ink is Dry in Your Book” – said by the older men to younger and inexperienced dockers.

“Top Man” – each hold had a man who controlled direction for the crane driver.
“Muggo” – when the Top Man called this out, it was time for tea.

“Up the Road” – docker saying for the job is finished.

“Crack an Egg” – term the Top Man would use when he wanted the crane driver to lower the cargo gently.

Tom clearly loves his books and they were on display throughout his flat. He was very proud of many first editions on his bookcases, and equally so of some ancient prints displayed on his walls. One is a copy of the United States Declaration of Independence on vellum; another, a panorama of the Thames; and also a fine one of Paris in the 1700s.

I asked Tom why he had come to collect books and prints, and he said it was the influence of a stevedore he had worked with. This reminded me how important the idea of self-education was for many people of Tom’s age and background, and how they viewed literature and culture as well worth pursuing.