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Holidays of the past

  • Thread starter Thread starter Rod
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As a 17 year old soldier on my way to Plymouth.On the Devon railway,in a compartment with an old sea dog who had been adrift for some weeks,he must have thought I was an idiot with my boyish behavior...such excitement....My first sighting is still the best ever,even after going around the world so many times since.Oh it was 1954.

You always have the best posts Chris...
 
I moved to live in Weston-super-Mare in 1968 with my Mum and Dad, still here now. Since then I've seen the sea about 3 or 4 times!
 
Dave,

I moved to Bournemouth in 1961 and lived in that area for 40 years. Only for the first 6 months did I see much of the seafront. Thereafter the only time I generally saw it was on Boxing Day each year when the family, in-laws, and numerous hangers-on took a stroll along the promenade after lunch. Last time I went in the sea there was that very hot summer of 1976.

We moved to Crete in 2004, I live about 10 minutes drive from the sea, but unless the grandchildren come over to stay, I rarely ever go there. For one thing I don't like sandy beaches and don't swim, and I much prefer to spend time in the mountains here - much cooler in the summer too. So you are not on your own!

Maurice
 
I was told that I was taken to Rhyl in 1939, just prior to WW2 (my father was in the Army before the war started), but being at a very young age I remember nothing of it.
My next encounter with the sea, for a couple of weeks and about which I have good memories, would have been in late in 1946 at Clacton and Tollesbury when father left the Army.
 
My first visit to the sea would have either been to Weston-Super-Mare or the North Wales resorts of Rhyl, Colwyn Bay and Llandudno. When I was aged 10 we ventured all the way down to Brighton. I was very disappointed that it had a pebble beach and no donkey rides. However, you could get a ride on a cow. Here is a photo of me on a cow. It is sooooo uncool. Here I am at the seaside wearing jacket, tie and pullover and sat on a cow. Dave.

P1020417 (2).JPG
 
Hi All,

At the start of this thread I told you about my first glimpse of the sea. When our first born was about 18 months old we decided to take her down to Weston for a week It was her first sight of the sea. We stayed in a caravan at Uphill, just outside Weston. Unfortunately it leaked and it poured with rain all the week. On the Friday I said to my wife "The weather cannot be so bad next week. Let us go into town and book a week in a boarding house" This we did but the weather did not improve and, on the Wednesday, we had had enough and decidied to go home. The lady at the Boarding House was very understanding and only charged us for the few days we had been there although she was entitled to charge us for the week. However we have had quite a few happy holidays at Weston since then.

Old Boy
 
I remember my mum told us when she first went to go the seaside during WW2 they had to hand in their ration coupons to the dragon of a B&B lady who sat on a high stool watching people eat. She called the gravy a drop of wet and the only washing water was pumped once a day in to a farmyard trough which the hens pooped in. Her family left mid stay and found another place in Weymouth with the Salvation Army band playing on the beach.
 
l vaguely remember seeing the sea at Rhyl around 1938-1939...l think a group from Aston went on a day trip and l do remember the sun was shining.....well we were altogether looking around the town and l guess everyone thought some one was looking after me....l do remember we were on a corner waiting to cross the road when l saw a cardboard lamb in a butcher shop and l must have decided to investigate....what l do remember is me crying sitting on a desk at the police station...untill mom and dad came to claim me...l'm sure l was screaming bloody murder so the cop was glad to see the back of me as much as my parents were glad to find me....its funny l really don't remember seeing the sea to much, but l can still see that cardboard lamb and that police station...Brenda
 
I don't recall the first time I had ever seen the sea, but I do remember the first time I saw the sea without Mom and Dad. As a family we'd been to Weston and Weymouth a number of times but when I was 15, in 1967, me and my mate Colin Beech went to Weston by ourselves. We'd got a huge Government surplus tent and sleeping bags given us for free so off we went on a Midland Red bus to Gloucester. From Gloucester bus station we walked to the outskirts of town and camped in a small wood near the A38; we couldn't sleep as our sleeping bags were full of ants!

The next morning we walked along the A38 until we could walk no more and then got on a bus that took us to Bristol. Again we walked to the outskirts of town, we couldn't find a suitable place to pitch the tent and didn't fancy having another night in company of ants so we caught another bus that took us to Weston. I remember getting off the bus near the Grand Pier; it was quite an achievement for a couple of 15 year olds!

The very next year when I left school at 16 (1968) Mom and Dad moved to a new house in Weston (actually in Worle just outside of Weston) from Brougham Street, I went with them and my life changed completely. I often wonder what happened to Colin, I never seen him again.

I'm retired now with 6 Grandchildren and still living in Weston.
 
Ah camping, only tried it once at Mousehole in Cornwall with a couple of mates. Too uncomfortable for me, I like my bed! Didn't have to do it whilst square-bashing in the RAF as the weather was so appalling that it was cancelled. Good job a war didn't break out!

Maurice
 
I suppose for some in this photo, it might have been the first time they had seen the sea at Blackpool in it's 'heyday'. We won't see scenes like this again.
IMG_0675.JPG
 
Phil,

Nice photo, though I have to admit I didn't see Blackpool until about 20 year ago, by which time it had gone well into decline. I remember stopping to chat to an organist on the seafront, who'd been doing the job for years and remembered Blackpool's better days. On the day we went we'd rented a cottage up near Carnforth and drove down for the day, just to see what it was like. Windy and a bit cheap and tatty was my impression and I've never been back since. I suppose the advent of cheap foreign package holidays struck its death knell and like many British seaside resorts, the season has got very much shorter over the last fifty years.

Maurice
 
I don't remember it, but here's a pic of me sitting on mum's knee at Blackpool in 1950 with my aunty Dorothy, I think, who lived at Fleetwood.

Mum, me and maybe Dorothy.jpg
 
When I was a little lad of about 7-8 I was absolutely thrilled to learn my Sunday School was organizing a day outing to Rhyll. I could hardly contain myself as the day approached as I had never been to the sea. Come the day I had some spending money in my pocket, my spade and shovel at the ready and off we set to board the train. After a trip of about 3-4 hours I could actually begin to smell the sea! The train pulled into Rhyll and I could hardly wait to squirm my way off and run into the sea and play in the sand. Well for all of you who are familiar with Rhyll will also know that the beach is very shallow and the tide goes out for miles. Someone had stole the Sea! so into town we went to visit Woolworths and spend my money on a pencil set. The day dragged on and still no sea! About 4pm we were all gathered up and told we had to catch the train back to Brum. I gazed out on the horizon and caught sight of a shimmering movement and someone said the tides coming in. At last I saw the Sea! I wondered what it was like to paddle in. Ah Well .......
 
Quite a few of us went on excursions by train to the sea, be it with Sunday school or Life Boys. I was wondering if these days such an organisation could book a whole train to go from A to B without changes
 
Yes Devonjim a whole train could be booked for excursions, when I worked at Atkinsons Brewery (my first job) we had a works outing to Blackpool in the summer of 1953.
 
Re: When did you first se the sea?

I first saw the sea a t Blackpool aged about 7 I remember walking a long way from the station passing lots of stalls and shops and wanting Mom to buy things but money was tight. Don't recal lmuch more Oldbrummie
 
I don't remember when I first saw the sea. I know I was taken to see my Grandmother and Aunt in Eire when I was very young - still a baby. I suppose this would have been by ferry so there's a sea to be crossed there. Definitely between 1957 and 1960.
 
Re: When did you first se the sea?

About 7 yrs old Mom took us 3 to Blackpool by train. Have been back a few times as teenager chasing girls on holiday from Sheffield
 
Perhaps only in 1950s Britain could a Knobbly Knees Contest take place. Maybe it wasn't their first visit to the seaside but they were having fun at Butlins Filey in July 1954. That right knee of contestant number 2 looks a bit worrying ....
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No one is overweight from those days Phil, I see what you mean, #2, Lhl, I can't say for sure of course, seen something similar in the forces, I spent some 2 months in the Cambridge Military Hospital in Aldershot in 64, and a lad from 2 Para, had a GSW same knee. Paul
 
In 1950 near a Butlins holiday camp, a crowd (mostly kids) decided to climb a life guard's look-out tower. One bloke at the bottom (carrying his mac) looks a bit worried !
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smashing photo phil...typical of the day...just bringing this wonderful video back for those who may not have seen it...well worth a look...

 
Great film Lyn, lovely to see old platform 7 again, the kids, "bless em", they looked so serious till the train came, then they brightened up. Paul
 
Fantastic film, Lyn, and although it seems much older than it was, I was married with a son of my own in 1963, and now two of my grandchildren will be starting university in the autumn. Where did all those years go?

Maurice
 
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