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 Alexander Dyos |
Caretaker dies after last farewell to hall he loved
CARETAKER Alexander Dyos, who spent more than 20 years looking after Lyndhurst Hall in Kentish Town, has died just weeks after the Victorian building he loved was razed to the ground by bulldozers.
Mr Dyos, 80, had argued with the Town Hall to save the hall in Warden Road and open it up to the community again.
But in his final weeks, he had to bid the building a final farewell from a wheelchair as it was boarded up and prepared for demolition, to make way for new homes. His daughter Susan said: “It was very sad for him and all of us. He was a residential caretaker so we lived there. It was a good place to grow up.
“I remember helping to put up the boxing rings for the boxing club. There were also big weddings there and an old people’s club and a youth club.”
She added: “He knew it was going to be knocked down and we took him down there to see it. He didn’t think it should have been shut down. He had good memories of looking after the place. He was happy in his job.”
Mr Dyos, who had recently been treated for heart problems at the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead, died on November 3 at his home in Cressfield Close, Gospel Oak, where he lived with his wife, Margaret. He had met her roller-skating at Alexandra Palace 60 years ago.
Mr Dyos, who served with the artillery in Burma and Europe during World War II, and was shot on the Dutch-German border, was one of 10 children who grew up in a deprived family in Archway.
When his mother died, his younger three brothers were sent to Australia in 1947 by Dr Barnado’s. He remained in north London because he was working. He did not see his brothers again until a reunion on a family holiday to Australia in 2001.
Formerly a caretaker at the Royal Soldiers Daughters’ School in Hampstead – now The Royal School – Mr Dyos looked after Lyndhurst Hall for 22 years after the then St Pancras Borough Council bought it in 1964. It fell into a semi-derelict state after being closed in 1998.
Daughter Susan said: “I remember him as being a happy-go-lucky person. There were lots of people at the funeral. It was a good turnout.”
Mr Dyos kept a scrapbook of newspaper cuttings and mementoes connected with Lyndhurst Hall. He used to recall rehearsal sessions by singers Twiggy, Lulu and The Walker Brothers at the hall and the day comedian Norman Wisdom visited the boxing club.
His daughter Christine has since been researching the hall’s history and earlier this year appealed in the New Journal’s letters pages for people’s memories of the building.
She said: “I have been told by one of the chairmen of the youth club that Dad was very respected by some of the youngsters attending the club because he gave them advice. I believe this was because Dad himself came from a poor background and knew what it was like to roam the streets with no money and nothing to do.”
She added “I have happy memories of being brought up in Lyndhurst Hall.
“Dad bred budgies in a shed on the roof garden, which he gave away to members of the old-age pensioners’ club. He was a loving father and we will miss him terribly.”
When he heard of the building’s fate in 2004, Mr Dyos said: “I can’t understand this decision. There is not enough for young people to do around here. People are clamouring for it. With the right people in charge it could be a success again.”
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