Estelle Gleicher

Estelle was born on 12 December 1923 along with her twin Rita in Hackney in the East End. Estelle’s parents Doris and Leon got a surprise that day with not one but two baby girls. This completed the Green family along with Estelle and Rita’s older brother Harold. The family originally lived in Daltston Lane in Hackney and then moved to a bigger flat in Lewis Flats in Amhurst Road when Estelle and Rita were quite young.

a straight talking Eastender, the last of a generation that experienced such a lot

Estelle had a very happy childhood, and every Friday night her dad Leon would come home from work with sweets and chocolates for them and her Dad would always take her out for lunch on Sunday. They were a close family. Doris’s mum would come to see them every week, and when another of the uncles (Uncle Benny) would come round to play cards, Estelle and Rita would mischievously peak through the glass at the top of their bedroom to see what was going on with the grown-ups.

Estelle enjoyed school and was very studious. When Estelle was just sixteen war broke out, and Estelle and Rita with their mum were evacuated to High Wycombe where Estelle was on fire watch. Leon would come and visit them at weekends when he was not working, but after some time it was too much for them all to be apart and they all came back to Hackney. Estelle spent the remainder of the war dodging bombs under bus shelters whilst on her way to work in Tottenham. Estelle was then able to continue her studies and went to Pitman’s school where she learned shorthand, something that she never forgot and until very recently would leave shorthand notes around her flat so that we couldn’t understand.

As young women in those post war years, Estelle and Rita would often go out dancing in the West End, and that was where one night Estelle met her beloved Harry Gleicher who had been sitting down with a bad knee having just returned from the war. After a year of courting, Harry who was a tailor, proposed, and in 1948 when Estelle was twenty four they were married. After they married, Harry moved into the family home in Lewis Flats where they continued to live for many years, while Rita, her husband Harry and her nephew Steve and niece Linda were very close by.

As was customary in those times, Estelle stopped working after marrying and settled into married life. Estelle and Harry were always going off on many holidays abroad and Estelle would often speak fondly of those times, particularly trips to Spain and Italy. They really were very well travelled. After Harry sadly passed away, Estelle continued to live in Lewis flats where she and Rita would see each other every day, playing regular games of Scrabble, listening to Nat King Cole records and still making the odd trip on the 38 bus to the West End.

very proud of her letter from the King and the Chief Rabbi

In her later years, Estelle along with Rita moved out of Hackney to Golders Green to Harmony Close and enjoyed many good times around the area, like heading to Edgware to see Linda and going for lunches at the local pub.

Estelle was always very glamorous, she was always doing her hair and makeup, and loved clothes. She also liked having her nails painted which Heather and Camille would do for her often in later years. Estelle always looked forward to her weekly Friday visit from Heather, and Estelle would enjoy telling Heather that she dusted every day and made all of her meals herself. Heather cared for Estelle as she would have done for her own parents and they developed a very special bond in those later years and Estelle loved Heather very much.

When Estelle celebrated her hundredth birthday she was very proud of her letter from the King and the Chief Rabbi, and even at this point she was living in her home with some support from Zohra who would come every day and make her lunch and was always very kind and put up with Estelle’ sometimes cantankerous ways. Estelle was a real nosher and loved anything sweet and would devour Turkish delights or bags of chocolates but never seemed to put on a pound.

It was only at the very end of her life that Estelle moved to a care home in Theydon Bois, making it very easy for all of the family to pop in on her and see her in those final days and weeks of her life. Remarkably Estelle was still living in her flat in Harmony Close until May this year at hundred and one years old.

Estelle was a straight talking Eastender, the last of a generation that experienced such a lot, and she will be greatly missed by all of us. Mind how you go Estelle.