Joe and Lydia’s house is described in the letters as 22 Shelly Road but is listed in more recent address books as 135 Shelly Road. They owned it right up until the time Exmouth Council decided to demolish everything in the area, and in fact they still owned it when all the other houses – most of which were made solely of wood – were in ruins around them. (Some time in the 1970s.) It’s likely that the road had been renumbered at some point, hence the change from 22 to 135; as far as I know they didn’t move from one house to another, but that’s not altogether impossible – maybe future letters will shed some light.

These pictures were taken in about 1970.