Westcliff-On-Sea memories
Here are memories of Westcliff-On-Sea and the local area. You can start now: Add your own Memory of Westcliff-On-Sea or a Westcliff-On-Sea photo.
Winter of '63!
I was 9, my brother about 12, and my sister was 6, and we lived with our parents in a huge maisonette in Hamlet Court Road. That winter ('63) it snowed and snowed and was freezing for weeks. Our dad and his friend, who lived opposite with his family (we would wave across the road to each other from our balconies!) built a huge sledge that carried about four (or possibly all!)of us at once! (they had two children i think). Nobody could use their cars for days and days, so the roads were completely empty and they pulled us down the centre of the road all the way to the seafront... great fun!..... unfortunately it didn't last as someone pinched the sledge from our friends' hallway not long afterwards......oh well, it was good while it lasted! That same winter, whilst the snow was still on the ground, we moved out to a bungalow in Hullbridge and the removal men only just made it with all the furniture..... which... Read more
Memories of Essex
Southend Beach
My Great Uncle and Great Aunt (Joe and Rose) both passed away recently, so I decided to share their memory here. I am their Great Niece's daughter.
As far as I am aware, they met about aged 17 or 18 on a "Beano" on Southend beach one year, about 60 years ago during the summer. Joe fell for Rose immediately, and wrote with a stick into the sand, "Joe loves Rose". They stayed together for the rest of their lives and had children and grand-children. Rose was ill and died a couple of years ago. Joe fell ill also and he passed away and met her again up there almost exactly a year later. I am sad they are not here anymore, but I'm glad they are together again. I hope they appreciate me sharing their memory.
We lived in Rainham, but then moved near Southend about 15 years ago and so much has changed since.
Days at Southend
I remember travelling to Southend with my family on a steam train from London. My sister and I use to put our heads out of the windows. More often than not when we sat down our faces would be black with soot from the smoke of the train and our mum would try to wipe us clean with her hanky.
When we arrived at Southend it was off to the beach for a paddle and a play then a ride on the boats in the boating lake. At lunchtime we walked up the hill to have our lunch of pie and mash, or fish and chips, then a Rossi ice cream for afters. In the afternoon we would get on a boat to the Isle of Sheppey, and spend the rest of the day in the Kursal. My fondest memory of the Kursal was the bowl slide, where you were were taken to the top of the slide by an electric chair then, once at the top, you were given... Read more
This Used to be The Highlight of Our Day Out.
As a child in the early 1950's I can remember that the best part of our day out was the boat rides on this lake. I can still remember the smell from the engines.
I grew up in Hornchurch and if I remember correctly we bought our first car in the early 50's and 3 or 4 times in the summer we would drive to Southend and maybe once we would go to Clacton.
Southend Airport
I worked for British Air Ferries in the early seventies as a post room assistant and remember so vividly the sight and sounds of those lumbering great Carvairs and the clouds of bluish smoke and coughing engines. I was also an Air Cadet with the 1812 squadron. I remember marching up the road behind Aviation Traders and sitting on the grass near the end of the runway, listening to the Sky Larks in between the bellowing of one fat NCO. These were the days before high security and terrorism.
I also remember peddling frantically down Hoblythick Lane on new years day in the ice and fog to see a huge array of airliners diverted to Southend Airport. In my haste, I braked on the ice, didn't stop, and ended up splayed across the road with cut knees. Oh to be young again! I left Southend in 1974 and now live in Norwich but still have strong attachments.
Motor Racing For The Young at Southend On Sea.
I remember this little track so well, it's just at the foot of the pier and has been there for as long as I can remember. My parents often took me to Southend for a day's outing, we had family friends at Thorpe Bay and quite often my dad and uncle and I would leave my mum and auntie to catch up on their gossip and chatter and we'd head off to Southend. After a time at the Kersaal with all its side-shows and dodge'em cars, we always went to the little race track last before heading back for tea. I can recall the smell of those little engines, the rubber tires and slipery wooden covered track. Every time a smell like that wafts past my nose, even today, I think of the track at foot of Southend Pier. It was still there in 1955 so the photo.
postscript: It's 2008 now and I understand the track is still there, albeit updated. I can't go back there now,... Read more
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