Winifred and Ronnie were at the Victory for about 10 years. They then started the Sailing and Social Club further down Coast Road - an establishment that left an unforgettable mark on Mersea life. The Sailing and Social Club stayed in the family until the 1970s. Ronnie Hone had died in 1944, and Winifred died December 1970, after which the Club was run by daughters Betty (Mary Kathleen) and Dinah (Diana).

In her later years Winifred started to write her memoirs. They tell of Tollesbury towards the end of WW1, the 1920s at the Victory, and of the many and varied people that were guests at the Victory and the Sailing and Social club. There are snapshots of Mersea life along the way.

The have been donated by Winifred's granddaughter Wendy so they can be preserved. They were originally handwritten, and a number were then typed by Betty. Wherever possible they have been left the way Winifred wrote them, but some of the spelling has been updated. They give a unique view of life in those days.
A few photographs have been added to the articles; just a few are from the Hone family and most are from other sources.

WW01_011 Tollesbury in 1916
WW01_021 Tollesbury in 1917 and 1918
WW01_031 Tollesbury, first visit to Mersea Island
WW01_041 Tollesbury and taking The Victory
WW01_051 1920. Mr Trim and Victory Days
WW01_061 1919 Miss Teresa Buxton. Victory in 1919.
WW01_071 1920 Victory Days. D.O.R.A.
WW01_073 1920s Cooking Victory Days. Berty Lincoln Cocks came to Mersea 1928.
WW01_076 1920 Dancing - Victory Dance Hall
WW01_078 Jan 1924 Victory Hotel - Wireless
WW01_081 1920 onwards - More Victory Days
WW01_111 1920 Arthur and Ruby Dale. Sing songs
WW01_131 Dumas, Chadwick, Hollick, Scringer, Grimwood. Debating evenings in Victory Hall.
WW01_141 Mock Trial. Victory Bar
WW01_151 1930. Sailing and Social Club. Sir Travers Humphreys.
WW01_161 Late 1930. Pastime. Sailing Club
WW01_165 Mersea Sailing Club [later WMYC]
WW01_171 1940 Home Guard
WW01_181 WW2 - Mr Edward Paxman
WW01_182 Edward Phillip Paxman
WW01_191 WW2 K.O.S.B. War Time. Caesar - goose mascot.
WW01_201 Old folk and children entertained. at British Legion, organised by Mrs Hone and daughters.
WW01_211 1969 Present Day fishermen
WW01_221 1969 Meditation .

People

WW01_231 1918 Tollesbury, Archie White
WW01_241 1919 Turner Postmaster
WW01_251 c1919 Harold Blind
WW01_261 1920 A. Dumas - yachtsman at Victory
WW01_271 1920 Victory Hotel. People. Mr Justice Younger later Lord Blansburgh. Mr Justice Darling, later Lord Darling.
WW01_281 Early 1920s E. Arnot Robertson
WW01_291 Taffy the Welshman - tales in the Victory Bar. Laying the sewers on Mersea.
WW01_301 Reverend Baring Gould - Rev. Dunn of East Mersea
WW01_311 1930s Zebedee Milgate and Tom Mole
WW01_321 Harry Tate comedian (died 1940)
WW01_331 General Sir William Horwood K.C.B. D.S.O. died 1943
WW01_341 Lord Upjohn (Sailing & Social Club)
WW01_351 Captain Charles Simms
WW01_361 Nice Families. Sir Alfred and Lady Soward. Michell.
WW01_371 Leonard Weaver
WW01_381 Mrs Condon
WW01_391 Thomas Gabriel

Memoirs waiting to be transcribed...
WW01_401 Noel and Muriel Brandon
WW01_411 Lord and Lady Alexander
WW01_421 Arthur Greenwood and Anthony Greenwood
WW01_431 Mrs Guthrie Smith. Orleans.
WW01_441 Bill Wyatt
WW01_451 Bill the Bold. 12 verse poem about Bill Wyatt
WW01_461 1950s Sam Costa
WW01_471 c1954. Fid Harnack.
WW01_481 c1958 Captain Goulandris - ST GEORGE.

Other Biographies

WW01_501 Tollesbury - Mr Hasler
WW01_511 Walter 'Navvy' Mussett
WW01_521 Captain Edward Sycamore
WW01_531 Clifford Brand
WW01_541 Rev. Pierrepont Edwards MC5
WW01_551 Shopkeepers Mersea Island. Oscar Whiting
WW01_561 Fred Smith bakery

Miscellaneous

WW01_571 Song of the Dabchicks - poem
WW01_581 The Native Oyster
WW01_591 Found in papers - thoughts on Winston Churchill.

More on Winifred Hone
Our County's Queen of Cooks by James Wentworth Day

More Mersea history