Do you have any childhood seaside memories ?

Happy memories of my parents taking us across the Irish Sea to spend two weeks every summer at our grandparents house in South Shields. My sisters and I loved the amusements and the beach,even though we had beautifull beaches in N.Ireland, S.Shields always seemed so exotic to us kids.

Scarborough in the late 60s. We had always holidayed closer to home ie Scotland. We stayed in a b and b for the first time. The weather was hot and sunny and we were on the beach most days. The lovely park was a favourite too (forgotten the name) I think there was a boating pond. It was glorious spending time in the sunshine and running into the sea. A haar came down which we ignored and we ended up sunburnt. We played at cricket outside the b and b which was exotic to us scots. We loved it so much, we went back the following year.

I lived in South Wales as a child ( and a lot of my adult life) and remember getting the steam train from Newport to Porthcawl for the day . I was 9 my brother was 2, he was asleep in his pushchair and started crying when the whistle woke him up. We had to get 2 buses just to get to the station.

I only remember 2 week long seaside holidays the whole of my childhood. One to Paignton when I was 11 and one to Weymouth when I was 12. When we went to Weymouth we drove to Bournemouth to see a show . My brother then 5 choked on a sweet my dad thumped his back , the sweet shot out of his throat and bounced down the steps of the theatre . I remember Tom Jones was singing at the time, everyone looked, I was so embarrassed!

Oh yes!
Cornwall, every year.
It was so exciting when my dad went to pick up whatever it was we were staying in that year.
A campervan or caravan.
I can remember being beside myself with glee!

We had family day trips with our nana and grandad from Manchester to Blackpool mainly, but also very occasionally to Southport, Rhyl or Colwyn Bay. I was always sick on the journey and my mum was never prepared for it.

We ate sandwiches we’d packed the night before and bought winkles or cockles that were eaten with a pin. Once nana bought ‘kiss me quick’ type hats for me and my sister. I loved the illuminations at Blackpool, but the prospect of the long bus journey always dampened the excitement of a day out.

Annual Sunday School bus trip to our nearest seaside, about 20 miles away. I was always prone to travel sickness as a child, and was terrified I would be sick on the journey.

Must have taken a picnic. Adored the donkey rides, 6d I think. Plus the odd ice cream.

Dad had a smallholding, the animals could never be ‘left’, so we never had a proper holiday.

Think the first time I went away was with a girlfriend after I started work at 16. We went to Butlins. Both got off with lads who worked there. My chap sent me a lovely letter after I returned home, he looked a real hippy type, but he had beautiful handwriting and said he missed me.

I never replied!

P.S.

I was runner-up in the Holiday Princess contest.

🙂 congratulations!
A bit belated...

Thanks MissAdventure

(Assume I was the intended recipient?)

Of course.
How many other real almost princesses do we get to meet on here?

We had seaside holidays on the Kent coast. I remember going home envying those who lived there. Aged thirty eight, I moved there and lived happily ever after

Twiceasnice I too lived in S Wales and we had many a holiday in Porthcawl. My uncle had a caravan at Trecco Bay. Now the caravans are neat and regimented there. When I was a child they were set haphazardly amongst the sand dunes. On our last evening we went to the shows at Coney Island, and had candy floss. Great memories .

I was born in a South Wales mining village , twice a year two
trips to Barry Island, one with the Capel one with the Miners
Club. Train to Barry,straight to the beach. Lunch children were
taken to a large hall for their dinner,no adults.
Back to beach, donkey ride, Punch and Judy show, nearing time for the train home always went to the fair .

First holiday by the sea was caravan in beautiful New Quay, Cardigan Bay.

As a small child I was convinced that the" Seaside" was a sperate place/town.
The fact I lived by the Seaside didn't dawn on me at all.

Grandmabatty, the park in Scarborough is peasholme park. I loved it as a child but it is on the North Bay and the South bay was a nicer beach.
I remember my dad towing a tiny caravan down to Cornwall when we were small. Very old fashioned, gas lights and no loo or shower. I learned to surf (laying down) in Newquay well before I ever learned to swim. At that time nobody that I knew went abroad.

Yes.
Really lovely memories.
My daughter has fallen in love with the same beach and takes her closest friends there. 🧡

I'm currently working towards a whole family holiday there next year.
Difficult with so many if us though.

BTW we are great sand architects in this family! I can spend whole days in complex construction! 🪣🌤

I lived for many years on the East Coast and loved it. The locals always preferred the beach out of season when there were no holiday makers.
Does anyone else remember the Cliff College Evangelists who used to preach and have hymn singing sessions on the sea front.

I was raised in Torquay so the sea was very much part of our lives. And when my children were young we rushed to our favourite beach, with a picnic, at every opportunity.
Even now, when I'm a few miles inland, I regularly drive to the nearest seaside and walk along the beach or sea-front.

Yes wonderful memories of staying with my maternal grandparents when they moved house to the Sussex coast. My grandfather loved the sea and I have memories of walking along with him hand and in hand, him telling me all about sea creatures and marine life generally, what to look for in rock pools. I remember my mother's observation that when couples retire to the coast like my grandparents, what happens is the husband dies first and wife is left as a widow and perhaps it's best to stay in the community they established themselves in. Some years later, after my father retired, hey ho! parents up sticks from Surrey where they'd lived for years, down to the Sussex coast, positively Lemming like, where the inevitable happened, father died first!

I have a theory though, we're drawn to the sea it's primeval urge, to return to the very place, where millions of years ago life supposedly crawled out of.

I love the sea, even when it's rough it's still mesmerising.

Thank you Salti. I remember now. It was a lovely park. We preferred the north beach for some reason.

Fantastic memories of growing up at the seaside. Could see the sea from my bedroom window. Was out swimming and jumping creeks all summer from about the age of 8. Prior to that Mum would meet us from school and take us for a paddle.
It was the perfect childhood.

Oh yes winkle picking, rock pooling, then going home with hands so cold and stupidly running a tap with warm water to try and warm them up again ………oooh the pain.

Lovely memories of going in freezing cold seas in Marske, Saltburn, Scarborough etc then hot tomato soup and egg sandwiches while wrapped in a big towel.

My parents moved south from North Yorkshire before I was born (never forgave them!) so every summer we would travel back and visit all our relatives.

Yes, I had been taken by my parents for a few days at the seaside, having just recovered from Chickenpox. My father recently back from the war, had found that his woolen swimming trunks had been attacked by moths and so he took to the beach in a newly purchased pair of Utility ones.

He set out into the sea and plunged about happily, after a while my mother looked up from our sandcastle making and returned his wave, then returned to the sandcastle, this happened a couple of times and then she realised that he wasn’t waving, but beckoning her. Rather annoyed as she wasn’t wearing a swimsuit, she went to the waters edge and he obviously told her why he had called her. She ran back up the beach and rushed to her handbag and pulled out a manicure set and took it back to the waters edge, together with a towel.

By this time various families on the beach were making a good attempt to look as if they were not engrossed in all this.

Suffice it to say that the Utility trunks had not proved a good buy - they shrank, and anxious to avoid an arrest for indecency, he swam, using one arm and clutching them with the other, to the point where she had waded in, took the scissors swam further out again, and cut them, sitting down under the water.

I was fascinated to see my mother turn walk a few paces and with the deftness of a test cricketer, hurled the towel at my father which he fortunately caught. They both returned up the beach, and with typical British reserve, the other families averted their gaze.

OK in fairness I didn’t remember all the finer points of this story, but it was related so many times over the years, that I could piece it all together. I don’t suppose I thought much about it then, but we had many a laugh recalling it. It rained for the rest of the week, and my father became rather annoyed when my mother regularly burst out laughing.