Holidaymakers at a Guest House in Clacton-on-Sea in Summer 1962.
This is possibly located on Church Road in Clacton. Guest houses would sometimes arrange for photographs of all their visitors each week, as here. It is of particular interest to me as I am one of those in the photo! Blue collar workers mainly from the London area would enjoy a week by the seaside at resorts such as Herne Bay, Margate, Cliftonville, Ramsgate, Clacton and Southend. They would either travel by coach (charabanc) or by train. In this instance I know that we travelled from Billericay where we lived at the time but suspect that we may have been given a lift by friends as we did not have a car. This could also have been the holiday where dad was lucky with a bet on the horseracing (betting shops had been legalised the year before) and although we had booked for one week we were able to afford to stay for two!
Notice how almost all the men are wearing ties even though it would have been reasonably warm and they were on holiday.
The landlady is the character fourth from right in the back row and no doubt she ran the guesthouse like a military operation. I notice from doing some research that meal arrangements were breakfast, a main meal at mid-day and high tea in the early evening. This reflects how we had our meals at home...the main dinner was always between 12.00 and 13.00 hrs. It probably reflects the fact that blue collar workers often had jobs local enough for them to nip home for the mid-day dinner.
Any further information on what this guest house was called or where it was likely to have been in Clacton would be appreciated.
Incidentally, en-suite rooms were a lot way in the future. I remember that there tended to be one bathroom on each landing so that around ten guests would be sharing one loo and bathtub (not at the same time, I hasten to add). As for showers...forget it.
These kind of holidays were an absolute highlight of my childhood and although we mainly went to Cliftonville in Margate, Clacton was chosen for 1962.
Holidaymakers at a Guest House in Clacton-on-Sea in Summer 1962.
This is possibly located on Church Road in Clacton. Guest houses would sometimes arrange for photographs of all their visitors each week, as here. It is of particular interest to me as I am one of those in the photo! Blue collar workers mainly from the London area would enjoy a week by the seaside at resorts such as Herne Bay, Margate, Cliftonville, Ramsgate, Clacton and Southend. They would either travel by coach (charabanc) or by train. In this instance I know that we travelled from Billericay where we lived at the time but suspect that we may have been given a lift by friends as we did not have a car. This could also have been the holiday where dad was lucky with a bet on the horseracing (betting shops had been legalised the year before) and although we had booked for one week we were able to afford to stay for two!
Notice how almost all the men are wearing ties even though it would have been reasonably warm and they were on holiday.
The landlady is the character fourth from right in the back row and no doubt she ran the guesthouse like a military operation. I notice from doing some research that meal arrangements were breakfast, a main meal at mid-day and high tea in the early evening. This reflects how we had our meals at home...the main dinner was always between 12.00 and 13.00 hrs. It probably reflects the fact that blue collar workers often had jobs local enough for them to nip home for the mid-day dinner.
Any further information on what this guest house was called or where it was likely to have been in Clacton would be appreciated.
Incidentally, en-suite rooms were a lot way in the future. I remember that there tended to be one bathroom on each landing so that around ten guests would be sharing one loo and bathtub (not at the same time, I hasten to add). As for showers...forget it.
These kind of holidays were an absolute highlight of my childhood and although we mainly went to Cliftonville in Margate, Clacton was chosen for 1962.