Childhood Memories...

A Memory of Wells-Next-The-Sea.

I remember most of these places shown in the photographs and as I look at them memories flood back! I remember learning to swim by the steps on the quay and drinking cider whilst hiding amongst the sprat boxes piled high on the quayside.
Taking empty pop bottles stored behind Plattens milk bar and returning them to the counter to receive money back on the empties! Walking the 'greasy pole' at Regatta time and working on the funfair for free rides. Riding my 'trolley' (soap box on wheels) down Staithe street and around the Butlands while visiting my friends to swap comic books. Paying sixpence at the Regal Cinema on a Saturday afternoon to watch the Lone Ranger! Hanging around the whelk houses down the East End for freebies! Walking over the mussel beds (ouch, cut feet!) at low tide to the marshes to collect seagulls' eggs and helping the older lads dig for sandworms before they were loaded onto the steam train at the station. Attending school with trunks on under our trousers so we could swim before we went home. Playing under the beach huts and watching the hydroplane racing on Sundays when the tide was right... Walking to school in all weathers and the great summers we had or is that just what I remember? I still remember the great fish n' chips from French's, Grays amusements, Fred's cafe (at the Scarborough Hotel) together with the International Stores, The Globe, The Crown, The Ship and Jubilee cafe, just to mention a few! The ITV series 'Kingdom' features a lot of scenes from Wells in the show and portrays them as Market Shipborough, which as far as I know a fictitious town, but having spent my childhood there I am not easily fooled!