We’re still in love with the British seaside holiday. In some ways more so than ever. But, some of the traditions that were once thought essential to the break at the beach have begun to fade away. When, for instance, did you last see anyone protecting themselves from the sun with a knotted handkerchief on their head? Thankfully, that little sartorial gem seems to have gone completely. So much so that you have to ask if it’s a comic invention? Did we ever really do that? The sad fact is we did. There’s too much photographic evidence to ignore.
A Nikon DSLR with string lights
Before digital cameras & smart phones - 35mm film cameras and disposable cameras, processing films and waiting for the results from your holiday and trip to the seaside with friends and family…
Processing film photography of your seaside holiday
On the subject of photography there’s one tradition that’s slipped away as technology has advanced. Armed with a traditional pre-digita camera, families snapped away to preserve precious holiday memories. Nowadays you can see the pictures you’ve taken instantly. Usually on your phone. But until fairly recently it was all about getting your films developed. There was a time when you took the rolls of film into the local chemist, or a specialist shop, often housed in a hut on the sea front. But then came the era of companies who handled film processing by mail. You posted your rolls of film in giant envelopes that the company provided. You went home from holiday and you waited. Then, a week or so later, another big envelope arrived containing the prints of your photographs (Yes! Hard copies!). With your pictures was another roll of film, and another envelope to send back when you’d shot that and offers for different size prints, plus with details of albums you could buy to contain your photographs. It was…involved.
Seaside Postcards (an early Insta or Tik Tok story!)
Photography of course was central to the postcard industry; along with drawings and cartoons, some of which were of a distinctly saucy nature. Sending a postcard home was something you did the moment you arrived and then you did it again later in the week. The very phrase ‘wish you were here’ is inextricably linked with sending postcards to friends and family. It’s not an entirely lost tradition, and there is some evidence that it’s making a a bit of a return. Some postcards, using your own photographs, can now be provided by online resources. The irony is that it was the digital world of email and texts that caused the decline in writing postcards. So what are you doing with your time if you’re not writing postcards? Well you’re not playing ‘I Spy’ that’s for sure. A recent poll indicated that this, we all thought timeless, game has fallen from favour.
Donkey rides at the coast
So too have Donkey Rides. You’ll find them on some beaches, and the animals will be better protected and cared for than ever. And yet, despite our seeming love for all things retro and nostalgic, we are not spending our holiday pennies on Donkey Rides.
Penny Arcades - seaside nostalgia
Penny arcades faded away and returned in another rush of seaside nostalgia. Even when technology took over we still kept our affection for some coin operated machines. (Tipping Point! Who ever imagined that happening?). But there’s one machine that became so notoriously naughty it’s earned a place in history. ‘What the Butler Saw’ took its name from a famous trial, the details of which it’s not necessary to explore here! Strictly speaking the machine was a ‘Mutoscope’. It was an early motion picture device, allowing one person at a time the opportunity to see hundreds of still photographs rotated, like a flicker book, to create the illusion of movement. For a penny in the slot you could (steady now) watch a lady partly undressing in her bedroom. It was so naughty!
Hiring a deck chair, you can still do it, but in the world of today we don’t find the time to just stop and relax, we are too busy being busy - perhaps something more than ever we need to do more of!
Punch & Judy - that’s the way to do it…..
We don’t watch Punch and Judy as much as we used to either. It’s another one of this things that we think we still do. Even if we question the values of Mr Punch in today’s society we somehow still feel that we’re watching the puppets with a knowing irony. But we’re not. Well, nowhere as much. It’s a declining art. It had good run though. The Punch and Judy show is generally accepted as having started on May 9th 1662. Mr Punch’s birthday. And we don’t hire deck chairs as much as we once did. Unbelievably, the simple past time of sitting in a rented deck chair on the beach has become far less popular.
Care for a dip? Seaside holiday swimwear
You’ll find that people of a certain age have a shared horror at the memories of knitted swimming costumes and trunks. This, mercifully, is one of the seaside traditions that has disappeared. Knitted, woollen, swimwear would, the minute it got wet, sag in a most dangerous and uncomfortable way. It begs the question why? Why was it ever invented? A few grains of sand in the wrong place could be agony!
Example of an old bathing machine
The Bathing Machine
A tradition now long gone is the Bathing Machine. Way before the era of brief swimming costumes, even knitted ones, there was a growing enthusiasm for bating, but much concern over modesty. Beginning in the 18th century, when a seaside dip was a new idea, there was a code of etiquette for swimming. Men and women were segregated. And the bathing Machine was the ultimate weapon in the war against flagrant displays of flesh. These walled wooden carts would be rolled into the sea, sometimes pulled by a horse. Inside them bathers would change into swimming costumes and then climb down a ladder into the sea. The cart then provided a barrier, hiding the bathers from the prying eyes of people on the beach. Some of these machines actually survived into the early 20th century. They were still definitely in vogue in some resorts during the 1910’s.
Beach huts at Southwold - a must visit seaside location in Suffolk
The seaside beach hut
A sort of cousin to the Bathing Machine is the Beach Hut. Some polls and research from twenty five years ago were claiming that the Beach Hut as part of a seaside holiday was a fading tradition. Rumours of their demise have been greatly exaggerated, to coin a phrase. Today they are very popular and much sought after. So too though are chalets and lodges, seaside holiday homes and static caravans. All of them are great ways to own a second home and have a base for holidays. Because although some traditions disappear, and some return, the one thing that remains constant is our love of seaside holidays. We really do love to be beside the seaside, beside the sea…..
