Birmingham on Sea

[caggyken]

HI
Not quite Weston but a bit further down the road at Burnham On SEA. The old 9 legged lighthouse built in 1832 and still working.
KEN

 

[sospiri]

I remember that from my childhood holidays (late 1940s), and watching men fishing for tench and perch in a pool on a caravan site near there. Happy days.

Maurice

 

[caggyken]

HI
It could be the camp down the road across from the baths.
KEN

 

[sospiri]

A long time ago now, Ken, and after 60 years I doubt if I would recognise it if someone took me there. I know that we went on the train from Snow Hill I believe and changed at Highbridge, but from there it is a dim memory. In those days we always stayed in caravans - generally somewhere close to a sandy beach like Burnham or Prestatyn. Nowadays I can't stand sandy beaches and avoid them like the plague! However, I have two teenage grandchildren coming over here in the school holidays, so I'd better get used to it!

Maurice

 

[sistersue61]

Bet your grandchildren will love it out there, better get your beach shoes out!
Sue

 

[sospiri]

Hi Sue,

Well it should be an interesting experience, though it does get into the 40Cs in July & August and we much prefer to go up in the mountains where it is much cooler and we don't have to contend with the tourists and difficulty in parking! We'll see how they get on and it they don't suffer from travel sickness we'll head for the much quieter beaches on the south coast

Maurice

 

[Rushburn]

My Grandfather retired down to Brean and ran a caravan site called the Mendip View, more or less opposite Pontin's. This was in the 50's and early 60's. Does anyone have any memories (or photos) of the site at that time?

 

[sospiri]

Rushburn,

This could well be the one that I stayed at though it was just a caravan site to me and I'm sure that Pontins wasn't even built in the late 1940s. As I say, I can only remember that it had a smallish fishing pool with tench and perch.

Maurice

 

[Rushburn]

Hello Maurice,
Probably not. Mendip View didn't have a fishing pool. It was too small for that. Although the site was long and went up to the dunes, it was only about 100 feet wide.
Patrick

 

[sospiri]

Well this was a pool, certainly not a lake and probably at most was 10 yards across. Thanks anyway Patrick.

Maurice

 

[caggyken]

HI
It must have been the one down the road across from the baths .They have a small pool,the only other camp i think has apool, is at the far end of the sea front
KEN

 

[caggyken]

HI ALL
A picture of the workmen who have just started to repair the old inshore lighthouse.This is now not in use but the lower part are residentual properties.
You need a head for hieghts for this job. The lighthouse is on the road between Burnham and Brean.
KEN

 

[paul stacey]

Know it well Ken, nice to see it's refurbishment. paul

 

[Dave M]

Saturday 21st Sept

 

[Rushburn]

Does anyone remember Priscilla the swan on Burnham Pier in the 50s? Does anyone have a photo? (For the uninitiated, Priscilla was a large motorised swan that took children for rides around the pier)
Patrick

 

[jennyann]

Hi Rushburn: Here is a photo of Priscilla the swan. Though on the beach and not on the pier. Our family had a caravan holiday in the
1950's at Burnham-on-Sea. I remember Priscilla but didn't have a ride on her. With three children in the family I suppose the families
holiday budget didn't run to all the things we wanted to do.

 

[Rushburn]

Many thanks Jennyann. Although my grandfather had a caravan site at Brean, we used to stay at the Retreat Caravan Site at the north end of Burnham. This was more or less behind the old lighthouse on the beach.

 

[Dave M]

Birnbeck Pier, The Bristol Queen

 

[rosie]

I haven't seen that one before, thanks Dave. I used to like going onto Birnbeck Pier, I think mentioned before there was a display of radios there just before it closed.
rosie.

 

[Dave M]

Yesterday 15th Oct 2013, weather just right :fat:

 

[motorman-mike]

and the tide. Great pictures Dave.

 

[Speedwing]

Circa 1949-1950, my bro and I taken outside the entrance of the Grand Pier by the resident photographer with the old harbour (fuzzy) in the background. Always stayed at the Melrose Hotel nearby, now a car park!


Clearly my parents presented the ticket and collected this print at the end of the week from the hut at the end of the pier.

Eight thirty Midland Red coach from Digbeth via Cheltenham

 

[Speedwing]

Yesterday 29th January 2014



Tide out, mud in, normal for WSM

Brave souls last seen heading toward Barry Island

 

[paul stacey]

I only visited WSM once, there was a local RAF camp, I had a job to do, and visited it. I have to say I thought it a desolate place, but based on a winters rainy day though.paul

 

[caggyken]

Well worth a visit after all the sea front improvments

 

[Radiorails]

I only visited WSM once, there was a local RAF camp, I had a job to do, and visited it. I have to say I thought it a desolate place, but based on a winters rainy day though.paul

There was a small airfield, where the DH Comet was tested, on the outskirts of WSM. At Locking, near Worle, was an large air force base called Locking. It was a training school for radio and radar. I knew the place in 1956 and had occasion to visit it in 2002 and found it very much altered: new barrack blocks and HQ. It is closed now.

 

[paul stacey]

yes this was the 1970's , and it was RAF Locking. paul

 

[Dave M]

Some of the married quarter`s and the water tower are still there, other parts of the site, a lot of new houses.

 

[bob56]

Weston Super Mare has been a Holiday destination for Millions of of Brummies over the years and Its' 2 Piers were a popular spot to visit until 1994, when sadly, Birnbeck Pier was closed to the Public on H&S grounds...However, there Is now a Facebook Group called "Lets save Birnbeck Pier" who have teamed up with The National Piers Society to try and save this magnificent structure from complete ruin.
I thought that there might be a few of you out there who may be Interested In what the future holds for Birnbeck or indeed Its illustrious past.....


https://www.facebook.com/groups/letssavebirnbeck/?fref=nf


Admin, please delete this post If It breaks any Forum rules on posting links, Ta.


Bobby.

 

[sospiri]

Locking also used to be the headquarters of one of the RAF Regional Bands. Most people think of the Central Band of the RAF, but there were several very good Regional Bands in addition to the usual Station Bands on the larger bases. One of my relatives was a tenor sax player in that band for many years. Of course, with all the cutbacks, I doubt if there are any Regional Bands any longer. Shame.

Maurice