Vacations/Holidays

Memories of Clacton on Sea

I’m a little late to the party this week but I wanted to answer Lauren’s questions about holidays.

Did you and your family have regular vacations/holidays?

When we lived in England mum would take us to visit her parents for a couple of weeks every summer. They lived in the seaside town of Clacton on Sea so that was always fun. Once we came to Australia we couldn’t really afford to go anywhere for a holiday. We did go to stay with relatives in the country a couple of times as teenagers.

Were they like most people I knew, tied to school holidays?

Yes, we usually went to Clacton in July or August the summer school holidays in England.

Were vacations a big deal or just time to get away?

Going on holidays was always a big deal for me even if it was just to stay with family. We got to go on a train if we were lucky, or a coach if we were not so lucky. I was always sick on the coach. We’d go to the beach, the pier, we might see donkeys and of course there were our grandparents, and our cousins to play with.

Did the whole family always travel together or did the kids go away for their own time?

Usually mum would take us and dad would stay at home. Naomi and I were very young and I don’t think she would have sent us anywhere by ourselves. When we were teenagers we did go off on our own, to visit cousins or the odd weekend train trip but I wouldn’t really call a weekend away a proper holiday.

Can you think back to a wonderful vacation memory that you treasure? Were their any fiasco vacation memories you wish never happened? Were there some that you can laugh about now, but at the time were horrible?

Those holidays were so long ago in the early 1960s and I can’t single out one year from another now but I have good memories of what they were like. I remember getting a donkey ride one year, usually we just watched. I loved seeing the donkeys on the beach. I remember how we loved to go onto Clacton Pier and ride on the carousel and other kid friendly rides. I remember a little shop that was full of colourful postcards, buckets and spades, fishing nets and all sorts of things. I remember how much I liked the way Clacton looked compared to where we lived. There was a park with trees and flowers, interesting looking houses and the bridge down near the seafront. I liked that. I liked seeing the colourful beach huts where people could shelter if the weather turned bad or make a cup of tea on a portable stove. I always wished we had one of those. I liked walking by the Town Hall where there was a low wall that it was fun to walk on.

Often we would be in Clacton when they held a big parade which we’d watch from our grandmother’s upstairs window. I have no idea what the parade was for but it was great fun to see it. One year which I have never forgotten mum took us to an exhibition at the Town Hall. It was model railways and dolls houses. I thought that was the best thing I had ever seen.

Were your vacations times to go, go, go, or were they time to relax and refresh?

Mostly they were relaxing, we went to the beach some days. Once or twice during the holiday we’d be taken to the pier. The rest of the time we played with toys that our grandmother kept there for us and our cousins to play with and a few things we’d brought from home.

All photos in this post were sourced from the internet and as far as I could tell were free to share. If I have inadvertently used a photo that I shouldn’t have my apologies. I’ll be happy to credit the photographer or remove the photo.