Crufts entries and accordions: These old family photographs vividly capture my East End grandparents’ lives

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Published: Sunday, 07 April 2024 at 09:00 AM

My grandfather George Moody and grandmother Annie (née Andrews). They married in 1909.

Black and white photograph of a little girl in a white Victorian dress and sunhat

Annie as a young girl. She was born in Ramsgate, Kent, in 1885.

Black and white portrait photograph of a young woman in Victorian dress

My great grandmother Annie Louise Hiller

Black and white portrait photograph of a man in a sailor's uniform and a woman in Victorian dress

George’s parents George and Emily Moody, c.1878.

Black and white photograph of a little girl, a middle-aged man, two young women and a young man in Edwardian dress

Annie (front right), her father William Andrews and her siblings.

Black and white photograph two chow-chows

George and Annie showed these chow-chows at the dog show Crufts in the 1930s.

Black and white photograph of a smiling little girl playing an accordion

My mother Vera Meakins (née Moody) playing the accordion.

Black and white photograph of a woman standing at an East End market stall with a large barrel

Annie and George owned a herbalist’s shop and sarsaparilla stall in Canning Town, East London.

Black and white photograph of a little girl playing the guitar and a man playing an accordion.

Vera playing the guitar and George playing the accordion.