Going to the seaside around 1950-1955

I was born and lived beside the sea. Not a resort much more industrial.
Picked up from school to go on the "Shore". Passed works that still smelled of chemicals from the war .
Endless" miles ",of shilles [shingle] to get to the sea if the tide was out.Hobbling over them in a rushed bathing suit and a rubber hat with chin strap.
Only to be shouted out as the sea came back in with a rip tide.
Best tea cake tomato sandwiches, pop and a packet of crisps.
A tired trudge home with other families.Sand in sandles making blisters Flowers with bugs in them that we had to throw away.
Family tea with dad who wished he had been with us. Utter Bliss

My first holiday memories are from the late 50s but very similar.

We lived on the North East coast but would travel over to Blackpool or Morecambe every year. And every year my mam would say it was very nice but not a patch on “our” coast!

born in north london, we had one day a year trip to Southend-on-sea .we went on a train ride along the pier and into the Kursall amusements, a fish and chip dinner.....It was organised by London Transport that my father worked as a bus driver for... the coach trip was annual for families..
My father also took us six children to Buckingham palace, Tower of London and museums as of course it was free transport on buses and the tube trains as he worked for the company,
moved to the coast in my 20s and feel very fortunate to walk along the beach frequently

We had a week in Blackpool in 1950, then again in 1955, other than that we went to Cleethorpes, Scarborough or Whitby on day trips with various pubs/clubs, sometimes by train, sometimes coach.
I remember the knitted bathing costume, very revealing when wet and droopy, lol!
Loved Cleethorpes, we always went on a Sunday, they had "Sunshine corner" on the beach, where we`d sing hymns and listen to bible stories. I used to get told off for sneaking off to go on the swingboats along the beach.
Wasn`t keen on Whitby, it always seemed dirty, there were some kiddie swings and slide on the beach, right in front of a sign which said "Danger, falling cliffs"!
Our Blackpool holiday was at the same boarding house each time, on Chapel Street, near the railway bridge, my mother bought all our food and they cooked it for us. Anybody remember the Fairyland ride on the corner of Chapel Street and the sea front? We loved it.

My paternal granny lived in a coastguard cottage at Lepe on the south coast. We spent our summers there, I learnt to swim in the sea and remember being mortified one day when my dad went swimming in his y fronts.

Two days every year, one with the Chapel and one with the Miners Club. To Barry Island or Porthcawl. Lunch in a hotel for the children , parents waited outside. Punch and Judy , a donkey ride and the fair on the way back to the train.

I was born and lived until I was 17 on Firth of Clyde. I learnt to swim in the huge pools left by the retreating tide and in my teens, enjoyed long, solitary walks with the dog. The south side of the town had a long promenade, more imposing houses, and a flatter beach. I preferred our north side, which had rocks and rock pools, fun to explore at low tide. 63 years later, I still miss it.

I remember a couple of holidays in Nanna’s caravan in Blackpool, and a few days camping in a tent in Morecambe. Other than that it was day trips to Blackpool with Sunday school on the steam train, which I absolutely loved

I have been sorting through photos and found one of me, aged about six, in my knitted swimsuit. I can still feel the horrible claggy feel of it when it was wet! However, I am smiling
Whoever thought it was a good idea? Somewhere in my stash is an old knitting pattern for one

Jaxjacky when the children were small we lived near the New Forest and would often take our children to Lepe beach. They loved it ?

Tinned mandarin oranges and piles of sandwiches. We would go to Southend every Sunday and spend the day on the beach. We lived in flat with no garden. We got there early and would leave about 3.00 to avoid the traffic. When the tide went out there was miles of mud. Holidays at Clifftonville where when the tide went out there was a pool of sea water. We had a beach chalet and every year the same people would rent. All my my parents friends knew we were there and there would be enough people to field two teams for cricket! Poor mum had to buy a very large enamel teapot.

I can’t remember it well as I was a toddler, but I have lots of photos taken at Hoylake, New Brighton, Southport, West
Kirkby and many other places. I still love the seaside

I enjoyed my fifties childhood Kent beach experiences so much, that, thirty years later I moved there .

Floriel

There is a marvellous novel by R C Sherriff called A Fortnight in September about an English family’s holiday in Bognor in the 1930s. I can’t recommend it highly enough.

Sounds brilliant - thank you for that!

I remember a holiday in Bude around 1954 with my Mum, Aunt & cousins. They had a clinker dinghy which was fun. My Mum spent hours body surfing on a hired wooden board. We all wore knitted ‘swim’ suits. Mine had a Fair isle pattern on the bib and drooped to the knees when wet. My Dad appeared half way through the holiday in his army uniform. He’d been at an officer’s training camp nearby. The beach was definitely not his thing - too much sand infiltrating everything. ?. My children grew up by the sea and spent hours on the beach and footling about in boats. Ive inherited my Dad’s dislike of sand. I used to sweep up a dustpan full from the kids and the dog after every beach visit

My first holiday was to a B&B in Westgate when I was two and my brother was a baby. I don't remember the beach but do remember the train journey and the verandas on the shops there.
Most years we visited relatives in Southport and Blackpool.
When I was five we went to the Mull of Kintyre - my first flight.

Marmight, at about 11 my dh was sent to stay on his own with an elderly relative in Bude, while his mother was having/recovering from a hysterectomy.

He went every day to the beach on his own - we were commenting not long ago on how that would hardly ever be allowed nowadays. He was a strong swimmer by that age but even so….

Although we rarely go now, since no longer have friends in N Devon, he’s still fond of Bude and is a friend of the lovely big sea pool, which I’ve thoroughly enjoyed swimming in. (Dh prefers the sea.)

I remember the Bude Seapool from my childhood. Would love to go back there. I had a red white and blue knitted costume!
I still love sea swimming.

I lived in Twickenham in Middlesex and remember going to Swanage, West Wittering and to my grandparents in Leigh on Sea. I don't think my grandparents ever took me down to the seafront - I do remember going to the golf club with Uncle Charles, their neighbour!

I grew up in the North East and back in the days the beaches near to us were all covered in sea coal. My lasting memory is going there with my dad and our dog, Bruce. Building a bonfire and sitting on rocks to have a picnic. It was a fair walk from our house which we did now and again on a Sunday afternoon. My mam was wise and stayed at home with a cuppa and a book. Lovely memories.

Stopping at the roadside several times between London & Brighton to let the car radiator “cool down”.

Coming home in the evening, sleepy & sunburnt, with the car backfiring all the way down Streatham Hill.

Happy memories.

We went to Hayling Island every year until I was about 10 when we started staying in hotels. In Hayling Island though we rented a large white bungalow very near the beach where mum and dad, and me and my two siblings would stay along with my grandparents. After we left my two aunts and their children would turn up - sometimes we overlapped. I remember the best ever icecream bought from a beach vendor and visiting Portsmouth to look round the Victory. We would stay on the beach all day except for lunch which mum and grandmother would cook back at the bungalow. Dad had a little Ford car which we always piled in. The first thing we did when we arrived at the holilday bungalow was go off and buy new buckets, spades and sunhats. A few years ago OH and I drove down to have a look at my childhood holiday destination. It was stuck in the 50s and the sandy beach had been pebbled over!

Waving to other car drivers on the road (as there weren’t very many), and acknowledging the RAC patrolman’s salute as he passed on his motorcycle.

My mother’s family were all in Southampton and we used to visit regularly at weekends and for a week in the summer holidays. Dad used to drive us from the Midlands and we always stopped for sandwiches in Savernake forest, close to a lovely church. The week was spent visiting my mother’s four sisters and one brother and we had day trips to Bournemouth, Highcliffe and once to The Isle Of Wight which was very exciting. Sadly we never had a camera so there are no photographs of those days but my cousin and I often talk fondly about them.

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Saltcoats, Ayrshire 1957