Holidays by the sea in the good old days were what many families spent their whole year looking forward to. It was popular to get in the car, or board a train and travel an hour or more across the country, to sit in the sun and wind on the sandy beaches, occasionally splashing in the water, ice creams at the ready. Seaside towns in England were the place to go, for families of all walks of life. In more recent years, this idea of the holiday by the sea or the ‘staycation’ has returned in popularity. Here’s some photographs from our books which summarise just why ‘holidays by the sea’ were and still are so very popular.
Beauty Contest on Redcar Beach, Teesside in August 1960. These girls not only had to turn out in their swimming costumes, they also had to hurdle a swimming rope whilst having their picture taken! Beauty contests became the standing dish at seaside resorts up and down the country after the Second World War. They were a new kind of entertainment for holiday makers, as the country moved on from the greyness and austerity of the 1940s. Photograph taken from our Nostalgic Teesside book.The sands at Marske, Teesside, look truly like some sort of perfect paradise in this photograph. The boats are in and the waves are crashing down in the distance. What a great way to spend a summer holiday. Photograph taken from our Nostalgic Teesside publication.Wow. We can only admire the craft of the sand artist as he creates marvellous tableaux from sand, on the 4th July 1936. He mostly made sand sculptures of animals and human figures, and my, they were fine pieces of art! The family in this photograph gaze in delight as their summer holiday is filled with art, ice cream, and sun bathing. This photograph is from our Southport book, Southport and Formby Memories.Here is a shot of Southport pier, the second longest pier in the UK after Southend. We can all remember those holidays by the sea where we spent our days strolling down the windy sea, looking for rides, donuts and candy floss. Another photograph from our Southport and Formby Memories book.Families gather on their holidays in Southport to watch this dapper gentleman on the beach. He a living out of playing upperclass twits and cads on his donkey, Gertrude. Photograph from our Southport and Formby Memories book.Holidays by the sea in Blackpool. A man wades through the water with his suit and tie on, trousers rolled up, while youngsters dive into what looks like very shallow water! Ouch! Photograph from our Blackpool Memories book.Do you remember being swung by your ankles on the beach? Too much fun is being had here on this beach in Blackpool…Happy faces all round on this lovely photograph taken from our Blackpool Memories nostalgia book.Line up Line up! A crowd of excited people queue up to go the Circus in New Brighton, Liverpool. This was a popular event after the second world war. Inside the arena the circus master cracked his whip and cracked our sides with laughter at the antics of the clowns. Photograph from our Liverpool Memories nostalgia book.Possibly one of the best things ever to exist in the world – ice cream on the beach! No day was complete without a cold sticky ice cream cooling you down after a hot and sunny day. We remember licking ice cream from around our mouths and that overwhelming feeling of satisfaction. We also remember feeling overwhelmed with devastation when we didn’t finish our ice creams in time and they melted, and fell, into the sandy abyss below. Delightful photograph of an ice cream seller on the beach in Blackpool. Photograph from our Blackpool Memories book.
