Don't go Back
From 1985 to 1982 I went with my Nan and Grandad to their chalet in Essex Avenue for 2 weeks in August. I remember a tiny kitchen, cosy front room and 2 bedrooms. Outside toilet which didn't seem to bother my sister and I. Woke every morning by the sounds of the Elsan man coming to empty the toilet, and falling asleep to the sounds of the bingo caller from the caravan park.
Long hot days swimming in the sea and walks along the beach. Always had one day at Butlins, a day on Clacton Pier, a swimming pool somewhere and a 'posh' day at Holland on Sea. Fantastic times.
I was in the area recently and thought I would have a trip back down memory lane - what a shock. Empty falling down chalets, roads that are disintegrating. People staring at me as I drove past. I remember my grandparents knowing so many of the people who stayed in these chalets and it was so sad to see their once happy homes derelict.
Funnily enough I now live in a place which started out like Jaywick but went into a completely different direction.
I will go back, but in summer and see if if feels different then, but it was very saddening.
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RE: RE: Don't go Back
I feel so like you. I absolutely loved Jaywick. The sun was always shining and our lives were so happy. I was perhaps luckier than most kids in the 1950s. My mum and dad owned several of the money-making properties in the area and I used to help them to make sure that you lot had a great time. I used to get up at 5 o'clock on a Saturday morning and go down to the coach station and wait for the arrivals from London. They always seemed to be on Suttons Coaches. I used to carry people's luggage for them and they gave me a few bob for my services. Most of them used to say "What the hell is this dump". But when I collected their luggage on their way home they could not praise our little place on God's earth up enough. There are people still out there who must remember me. I was called Snowy, I had blonde hair and was as brown as Nuggets Knocker, I was permanently in a bathing cossie and pushing my barrow. I was the equivalent of Thomsons holiday guides, and was only too pleased to tell the people the best places to go for a good laugh. You are saying "Don't go back," but please, people, you just have to. Jaywick is still the same old place that we all loved. I admit that it is a third world town but nothing has changed. My name was Joe Fordham and I fell in love with a gorgeous girl called Miriam Salmon, she was a real cracker. I hope to God that she is still alive today and her husband has departed, I would be over the moon to meet her again. I would marry her tomorrow, I have never forgotten her.
Comment from Joe Fordham on Tuesday, 29th March 2011.