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Brumagem-by-the-sea

F

Frantic

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Yesterday, I took myself for a drive to a local beach. I sat and watched the waves, smelled the sea, and enjoyed the solitude of an empty beach, and my book, and flask of tea.
Then the memories came flooding in from my childhood. I tried to recall the first time that I 'remember' going to "The Seaside". In my case it was going up to Heswall (Nr Liverpool) where my Dad's sister lived. The anticipation, the train ride, pictures of seaside places in the carriages, the leather belt with holes in to open the window, the smell of the smoke. We used to stay for two weeks in a house owned by Mrs Davies, a widowed friend of my aunt. She would go and stay with my aunt while we stayed in her house. It was a "Bungalow" and it had a Door Bell (I didn't know anyone with a door bell in Aston). We used to go everywhere on th 'Crossman' buses. They smelled different to ours somehow, and they were green. We used to go to West Kirby and to Birkenhead, and there were ships and ferries and smells that I still can't get out of my head (and wouldn't want to). I can remember doing that holiday three times, it was all my parents could afford, they had to save all year for the train fares, but I will always be grateful to them for my early childhood holidays.
My dad bought an old Ariel 'Combo', and that opened up all sorts of possibilities. I can remember doing the Great Tour of Wales and camping everywhere, but the one thing that always stays with me is "The first one to spot the sea gets a shilling". My dad would say to my older brother and me. The competition for the shilling was one thing, but that first glimpse of the 'seaside' was for me, the biggest prize. You didn't really think about the sea very much when you lived in Brum did you? The idea of popping down to Aston Beach, or Saltley Sands for a quick dip, didn't really come up very often did it? 'Seeing the sea' is still a special thing for me, and although I now live less than a mile from the sea, I still get the same pleasureable feeling when I see it, as I did as a child. Can you remember the first time that you saw the sea?
 
My Mom & Dad never went to the seaside untill they go married and went on Honeymoon to RHYL in North Wales,
When they had me & My brother, I can say only during the 5 years of the war did we miss going to the coast for our Holidays.
My Mom & Dad did all they could to see we had the best Hols, even if it ment them going without. THEY WERE THE BEST.
MISS YOU BOTH
ASTON
 
Frantic, what a great piece of writing as usual. I actually experienced the smell of the leather strap with holes as I read it. What a strange sensation after all these years. The door bell, you're right. My first sight of the sea was at Blackpool and yes the same, first to spot the sea.
I can remember my folks looking across at trains going the other way in stations close to our destination, to see if the returning crowd were brown. Indicated what the weather had been like. The first sight of the sea was always awe inspiring, the enormity of it, to the horizon. Then on to the Eatonia guest house, central pier. Wow.
I believe you are in Perth and can visualise you looking out over the ocean holding your mug of tea. I seem to remember reading that the coastline there was not always a welcome sight for skippers of sailing ships in the old days. If they did not see it soon enough they could end up on a lee shore wrecked. They probably gave it a wide berth.
Regards
 
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Frantic ,
I Also Would Like To Comment On Your Letter Writing
And Furbishing Your Wonderful Story
You Write With Such Excellents, And ellegants
And I Get The Feeling Your Pen Flows With Ease.
I Have Got To Admit I Did,nt Get To See The Sea
Until Late In Life , But Saying That , I Did,nt Get
To Go On A Train Either , Until I Was twelve ,
And That Was Down To My Aunt Maud Smart
Whom Lived in Whitehouse Street Aston
She Took Me To Sutton Park , By Train From ASTON STATION .
There Was A Big Fair Then ,And A LAKE ,
And They Had Speed Boats Which She Took Me On
Then Eventualy I Went On The Duke Of Edingbura
Award Scheme ,
We Went To ST. ATHENS In WALES ,
Where I First Seen The Sea , And My First Big Real Ship
Out In The Distance , It Was Fantastic Sight To See,
I Spent 3 Days There Cannewing , The Sand And The Dunes
Was BEAUTIFUL
And I Remember Saying To Myself ,
So This IS What The Posh Kids Go AND See
When They Go On Holiday, And Believe ME The Sea
Was Blue .
IHave Never Forgotten My First Experinence
I Do Now Travel Abroad Alot Now
But I Do Spend Alot Of Time In Southern IRELAND
And I Have Got To Say , That All The YEARS ,
I Have Heard PEOPLE Comment About Blackpooll
I Thought I Would Pay It A VISIT
BUT I Have Got To Say I Thought It Was disgustingly,
And Filthy , Dirty ,
And I Certainly Would,nt Go Again
And I Certainly Would Not Send MY Worst emminie There .
HAVE A NICE DAY , ------REMEMBER .SMILE . AND THE WORLD
WILL SMILE WITH YOU.
 
Gosh; I did not realise that Blackpool was such a posh place. I am sure it was where the Victorians used to go to let their hair down and have a good time. But you know, Mrs. Eaton's Brown Windsor soup was the best soup that I have ever tasted before or since.
Dropped into the port of Cork in southern Ireland one time to drop off a load of grain on the old Manchester Mariner. I guess that counts as abroad. Visited Blarney Castle and got a certificate for kissing the Blarney Stone. You have to be suspended upside down from the parapet to reach it only to find it is covered in lipstick. Nice place Cork, very clean, excellent little bars and a tar like liquid they call Guiness. Later involved with Irish Steel and a new mill we put in there at Cork. Funny thing though some of the people that I spoke to in the bars there reminissed about the great times that they had in .... Blackpool. I must admit that I always did too. The tower ballroom alone would have Beryl dreaming of a waltz or foxtrot, or even rhumba. Ahhh Reginald Dixon... the tram rides. But at the end of the week we were always brought back down to earth, glumly watching the white faced people happily going the other way on the train for their week. We would be returning to our cold water, coal fire, side oven, tin bath, posh abode. No... I think posh would probably be hobb nobbing with the Duke of Edinborough. Some people have all the luck. It seems to me that I was too old to go on that scheme. I'll take a Rhumba with Beryl in the Tower Ballroom over that any day.
Regards.
 
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I would rhumba with you anytime Rupert - Blackpool Tower would be great First warm up with jitterbug LOL Rhumba for sure it is not hard when you hear that beat - I might even try a tango - I just love to dance -
 
My First Holiday

I was about 6 years old when I first went on holiday.....My Uncle Sid took me to keep his son Denis company who was about 12......we went to a place named Towyn nr Rhyl.......what I can remember is walking up a long lane, climbing a wall crossing a railway line (which scared me) just to get to the beach.....I can also remember coming home to find that my parents had left the house and gone to live somewhere else, leaving me to stop behind to live with my nan, and my dads younger brother Ronnie and his wife Mary.........and I stayed with them until I got married.....

I have attached two photo's.......I am playing with my boat in one of them, Denis wanted a battery one, which didn't work after the salt water got into it......and the other is of Denis and myself making sure that everything is still there
 
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That's very sad John.....don't know the details, but it must have been very frightening.
 
aston said:
My Mom & Dad never went to the seaside untill they go married and went on Honeymoon to RHYL in North Wales,
When they had me & My brother, I can say only during the 5 years of the war did we miss going to the coast for our Holidays.
My Mom & Dad did all they could to see we had the best Hols, even if it ment them going without. THEY WERE THE BEST.
MISS YOU BOTH
ASTON
Click to expand...
My Mom & Dad rode from Brum to Rhyl on a Tandam and got into trouble have a photo somewhere for getting back in the early hours, I have a photo of the two of them Dad in a leather Jacket ( those days?) god bless them:)
 
I guess i was luckier than most people - My mom sister and I went on a holiday every year - Dad didn't come with us being the in the Air Force reserve 605 Squadron at Castle Bromwhich - he went away with his squadron
 
frank,stay where you are mate and reminice,fer gods sake dont come back here again,i hear the sea every day but thats the rain coming off the broken guttering round here,i open the door every morning and say *GOOD HEAVENS AINT I LUCKY LIVING HERE SO FAR FROM THE SEA ,all the best mate,pete
 
What an awful shock for you John. First time we went to the beach was to Llandudno when I was about seven. All I can remember about it really was all the earwigs we found in the caravan. I hate earwigs now, absolutely loathe them.
 
Birmingham by the sea

Hi, Frantic.Just being a bit pedantic but don't you mean Crosville buses,not Crossman.
 
First Hoiday I remember was to Morecome with Gran & Aunt Mable just after the war and we stopped at a Guest House Full Board and it was Food & Food and my eating Cream of Tomato Soup (Heinz) and I still like it.:)
We had days out and went to the Cinema in Blackpool and saw Gene Kelly in Cover Girl, where he danced with himself to the song 'Me & My Shadow' I was fasinated.
 
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My first holiday was to Bewdley a friend of my father's said we could use his house for a week, it was a huge house with several bedrooms, right alongside the river seven we, my brothers and sisters soon found out that it was not a river to be played upon but we had great fun non-the-less scrumping and doing childish things. There was a guides and brownie camp in a field by the house and my sister and i begged mother to allow us to sleep with them on the last night, needless to say we came back with some little unwanted friends. But it was a holiday to remember. happy days.
 
I was a very lucky child as we went on holiday every year and sometimes twice. My aunt lived in Bournmouth, we would stay with her and my uncle, she owned a beach hut we would stay at the beach all day..........heaven!! We would also go to Wales Llwyngwril where my Dad's boss had a house we used to stay at (picture on another thread) he also owned a farm and we would visit the family who were lovely. I was scarred stiff of the bull but loved it when I was allowed to feed the new lambs. I still think I had the most wondeful childhood.
 
:angel: Went to 'The Seaside' for the first time for a day trip when I was 9/10yrs old. It was a church trip to Rhyl on the train, first train trip too. Loved the train trip... disappointed with 'The Seaside'... it was a very dull cold day and everything looked Grey! I'd had this vision, from learning to read from the 'Dick & Dora' books of 'Golden sands and lovely blue sea'.
The next time I saw the sea I 11yrs old and it was at Bognor Regis. Went on a free holiday with my school for two weeks and again disappointment ! The beach was very stony. Went to Wales at age 14 and traveled across from Bangor and again spent a wet cold Grey day on the beach on 'The Isle of Agnlesey'.
So I gave up looking for 'Golden Sands and Brilliant Blue seas' in the UK. (I'm sure there must be a beach like that somewhere, but I never found one!) So enjoyed 'The Seaside' for what it was, the place to meet my 'Soul Mate' Colin in 1967.
Then I came to New Zealand and found what I was looking for... I now live in easy reach of the the most 'Brilliant' coastline one could ever wish to visit. With heaps of truly 'Golden Sands' and the most 'Brilliant shades of Blue Seas' along which take relaxing walks . 'My Dream' come true... :cool:
 
Our holiday spot was Hastings, we went 'en famile'. My aunts and uncles and their friends would congregate last week in July first week in August, when Birmingham would take to the roads and rail.

My memories are of sunshine from dawn to dusk and nickerbocker glories at the Italian cafe in St Leonards. :)
 
This has become a sad thread to read. Not the posts, which are wonderful comments of our past lives but the fact that many of the posters have gone...either left the forum for one reason or another, or passed on. I have seen this thread pop up a few times and not bothered to open it, but this time I did, noting that I had contributed. Anyway, guys, check in again. Just to say hi.
 
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