Canvey Flood of 1953

A documentary by the Kents Hill Junior School Radio Club

In 2011 the Kents Hill Junior School Radio Club created a documentary about the 1953 Canvey Island floods. This documentary went on to win the 2012 Sony Award for Feature/Documentary Programming.

The Radio Club meets once a week at lunchtime and is organised by parent volunteer Michelle Durant. She helped the children produce the documentary and secured air time for it on local community radio station Gateway 97.8 where she is also a volunteer.

The original documentary is 55 minutes long. The whole documentary is on the site but split into four logical sections to enable people to listen to parts of it when it suits them.

Our thanks to Michelle Durant for providing us with a copy of the documentary.

Winning team - (back row second to sixth left) Adrian Northover-Smith, head of corporate public affairs, Sony UK, John Bradford, founder of Schools Radio, Sony Europe managing director, Gildas Pelliet, Peter Thompson, president of Schools Radio and Michelle Durant, Kents Hill Junior School Radio Club organiser. Front row (from left in purple uniforms) Kents Hill pupils Daniel Bull, Grace Goodall, Holly Howlett, Hannah Worsfold and Abbey Harvey.
Essex County Council
Part 1: The 1953 Flood and people's memories
The Radio Club give the history of how the flood occurred and illustrate it with readings from peoples stories. 19 mins 11 secs
Part 2: Graham Stevens' memories of the flood
The Radio Club interview Canvey Island resident Graham Stevens about his memories of the Flood. Graham was ten years old at the time of the flood. 11 mins 47 secs
Part 3: The Aftermath of the Flood
The Radio Club describe the damage caused by the flood and give a moving tribute to those who lost their lives in it. 6 mins 14 secs
Part 4: How Canvey could cope with a flood today
The Radio Club describe the odds of another flood and interview Bill Snow the Castlepoint Council Emergency Officer about how flooding occurs and what measures would be taken nowadays to deal with it. 17 mins 57 secs

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