John Claridge’s Working People & A Dog

Click here to book Remembering John Claridge who died on Sunday 24th May aged eighty-two. Groundsman, E.15 (1965) “This is the groundsman at the Memorial Ground where I played football aged ten in 1954.” Some of my favourite people are the shopkeepers and those that do the small trades – who between them have contributed the major part to the identity of the East End over the years. And when I see their old premises redeveloped, I often think in regret, “I wish someone had gone round and taken portraits of these people who carried the spirit of the place.” So you can imagine my delight and gratitude to see this splendid set of photos and discover that during the sixties photographer John Claridge had the insight to take such pictures, exactly as I had hoped. When John went back ten years later to the pitch near West Ham Station where he played football as a child, he found the groundsman was just as he remembered, with his cardigan and tie, and he took the photograph you see above.…