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going on holiday with mom and dad

P

philbee

birmingham born and bred
Friday night dads just come home with the weekly treat ,the TOPPER ,THE BEEZER ,THE DANDY,and THE BEANO , It was a special friday this week , early night tonight bath and then to bed we'll read the comics tomorrow can't get to sleep we're to excited , Saturday morning mom calls us early it's still dark outside insists we have a good breakfast as it will be a long day , Dad has ordered a taxi to take us to snow hill bit of a problem with how many passengers he can carry but it was sorted an of we go on our holidays.


Sitting in the back of this taxi (Austin Shearline) i felt like royalty it was huge to me ,down the chester road from kinshurst past the coach and horses the sun was just rising , down past the clock garage onto the hunters moon down to the beaufort / fox and goose no traffic like today the gate which was always a busy junction no hustle or bustle because it was the main weeks and all the factories had closed for their break, up over saltley viaduct and nechells place finally getting into snow hill and that big concourse the station was packed everyone in brum was going on holiday, mom and dad carrying two huge suitcases and me and benita (my sister) hanging one to them with our bits of luggage so as not to get lost. The train pulled into the station we joined the throng to board we took our seats us two by the window and then the train started to pull out past all the grimey buildings then onto trees fields and beautiful scenery we had to change trains but i don't know where it was, all an adventure to us kids , we evetually arrived at Margate we got of the train and out the station to sun sea and sand the end of a magical day for us two and the start of a fortnights holiday .

Phil
 
Phil, that brings back memories!
Our suitcases used to be sent ahead and we collected them at the camp reception with the keys.
Mom, dad, my younger brother and I would walk to the station early on the Saturday morning and have a treat of sweets and a comic from the station shop. We each had a bag with a colouring book and crayons and a book to read in.
Up the stairs to Platform 4 to await the arrival of the huge Cornishman train, that would take us to our destination.
A neighbour was a BR policeman and he used to reserve a compartment with a table for us. Once we had settled in, mom and dad had a cup of tea from the flask in moms bottomless bag, as the train went on through New Street, with its long, dark tunnel and on southwards through Gloucester w22here we ended up going backwards - I later found that the train reversed out of the station! - on through Bristol Parkway and Templemeads and into Exeter, where, depending on the time we had, there was either a hasty sprint from Central to St Davids, or sometimes the luxury of a taxi ride! At St Davids onto the local train and into Exmouth, where the excitement was building, we could see the sea!!!! A bus - or sometimes taxi - then to our final destination "Sandy Bay Holiday Park" and our wonderful week away from homewith my nan and grandad who travelled down by coach and sometimes my aunt and uncle, so a family affair all round.
Thanks for the reminder Phil.
Sue
 
Lovely memories for you both ...... i can feel the feelings of you both the excitement must have been tremendous .
thank you .......... ragga ...........
 
Sue

Its funny how all the family used to go away together there always seemed to be aunts and uncles with you somwhere a proper family gathering !
phi
 
We had amazing holidays at my aunts who lived in Boscombe near Bournmouth. She was born in Aston in 1900 but moved near the coast for her health. She had a beach hut so my holiday was heaven, beach and sea. I am still amazed how my mother cooked a meal for six of us on two gas rings...Happy memories.
 
I can just remember the first holiday I had in Gt Yarmouth. My Dad had gone with his parents for a few years before the war and after going out with Mom the 4 of them used to go. This first trip for me was memorable because we went by train (from Snow Hill I imagine?) and as there were 5 of us Dad had reserved a compartment. The train had just pulled out of the station when a woman opened the door and said to her husband "come on, they can move up". At that my Mom said "no chance, we've booked this compartment". The woman went off with a big scowl on her face and I felt a million dollars. We might not have had much money but we knew how to travel!
 
We used to go on holiday mainly to Newquay. As my mom and dad worked together, one of them usually had to stay at home to look after the business, so it was always Mom, my sister and me, and my auntie going on holiday together. The luggage was always sent on ahead, and it was so exciting to get to the station - Snow Hill is the one I remember going from mostly - and see the train come puffing in with smoke billowing out everywhere ready to take us on our holiday. The compartments on the train held about 8-10 people, with a door opening straight from the platform into the compartment, and there was a corridor down the whole side of the carriage. Margaret and I liked to get a window seat if we could and I think Mom packed sandwiches and drinks in her bag. We always saved all our comics for about a month before we went away, so that we could read them on the train. Then as we got nearer it was always a competition to see who could see the sea first. Towards the end of the holiday, Dad would join us for a day maybe if he could. Wonderful days.
 
Our holidays were great.The whole extended family,going on a lorry and camping in Tewksbury.Every year from 1937 -1952.Even during the war when us sprogs all had to be silent and were covered in a tarpaulin when we went through a town,(Petrol was only for commercial needs).
Photo.is my first year 1937...I'm the babby in the bucket...Elf & safety....eat your heart out.
 

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I was quiet safe David,that's 'our Len'in the background,he had lightening reflexes...he needed them later when he was a 17 year old flight sgt.rear gunner (tail end Charlie) in the R.A.F.
 
What a lovely thread. It is true most of our family went on holiday together plus half of Holte road camping in Tallybont North Wales. We all piled into the back of a lorry with the tents etc and sat our bums wherever there was a space. It was a soft top open backed lorry and I hate to think what Health and Safety would make of it today. Will try to put some photo's on.
 
Up early, taxi to Stockland Green where we got the coach to Devon. Our Nan had a shop so we had lots of sweets, my brother ate his before we started and was sick on the way. We had to stick his head out the window, and when we got to Cheltenham Dad had to clean the coach with a bucket of water.

Then there was the time coming home from Falmouth by train. Mom dad, brother and I and Aunt and uncle and cousin. Hottest day of year slowest train, continual stops, took twelve hours. Dad had decided to treat himself to cockles to eat on train but forgot and they startd to smell and we couldn't work out where it was coming from. Those were the trains with no corridors. Me amd brother slept on Luggage rack. And we complain about today's trains!!!!
 
Lovely hearing memories of travelling to the seaside.
In later years, dad drove down to Sandy Bay, using an AA route map. As I am so travel sick, we didn't use the motorway, nowhere to stop when I was sick!!, but followed the "scenic route". I travelled better in the front of the car and was allowed to read the directions for dad, I knew the route by the pub names as that's what was used as a marker! We decided a couple of years ago, going to Brixham on the rugby tour, to recreate the scenic route for mom and dad, hubby was amazed at the number of pubs I knew lol. We used to stop at "The Lodge", a bed and breakfast with a cafe, at a place called Pennsylvania, they did doorstep sandwiches and huge slices of home made cake. The people who ran it seemed ancient to me as a child and even mom referred to them as the old couple. On the way home we used to buy their home grown veg for Sunday dinner. Imagine our surprise to see it was still open when we went last time!!
On our car journey, we often used to see the same family at various places en route, until they turned off just past Bristol. When we got to the camp site, they pulled up behind us - the driver had ginger hair and had waved as had his children, he was amazed that he had got on the motorway and yet we still arrived before him.
Good memories!
Sue
 
Its nice reading this thread reminds me of those happy childhood memories.....

An holiday at Arley with Mom and Dad was also my first, towards the end of WW2. Our next door neighbours came with us on a Midland Red bus which had a large front bench-seat upstairs. I stood with my sister at the bus front window and we saw the largest river we had ever seen as we came into Bewdley. I can't remember how we went on to Arley, it wasn't by train because I remember the grown-ups carrying suit cases walking along country lanes and rather grumpily arguing by a signpost about which way to go.

We eventually found the field in which there were two caravans, a small white one our neighbours had, and for us a brightly decorated gypsy caravan with horse shafts, large wooden wheels and steps up to the end door. I thought it was very old fashioned, because it only had a wood burning cooking stove. Lighting the stove in the mornings took Mom and Dad ages, so we rushed out to the top of the hill waiting to see a small American airforce plane which daily flew low along the river. We used to wave at the pilot and he always waved back, we were so pleased.

We used to play on our own down by the river where there was a tiny island, and the path we used crossed a railway line where I saw my first ever train. In the evenings we were taken to a small pub near the river and I had my first taste of shandy - plenty of lemonade in it so it was nice.

One day the grown-ups decided we were visiting Shrewsbury and I looked forward to my first train journey but was slightly disappointed when a GWR diesel rail car pulled into Arley station instead of a steam train. Other things I remember was watching my Dad swimming in the river, me falling into a bed of nettles, and in the Wyre Forest we saw a tree with lots of trunks.
 
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I didn't get a real holiday till i was ten, but we did go on day trips with eatonways coaches (i think that was how it was spelt).They were based in Hay Mills, but they used to pick up at the Swan Yardley so our day out started with a walk from Hay Mills, we didn't waste money on bus fares. I remember trips to Rhyl, Barmouth. Weston. and Skegness and yes these were all with the extended family. When i was ten (1954) we went to Brean near Weston for a week, we went by coach (Browns i think) and we stayed in a caravan that was in a garden with two other caravans, ours was the smallest of the three but we had a great holiday
 
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