The 'fence' On The Beach

A Memory of Walcott.

As a very young child, probably aged about 3 or 4, my family rented one of the cottages close to the cliff side at Sea View Crescent on two consecutive years. I remember the drive down Ostend Road, where lots of the bungalows had model windmills in their gardens.

One night, probably in 1966 or 1967, there was a terrific storm. I remember vividly the sea foam on the windows and my brother saying to keep the door closed as the roof could be lifted off.

The next morning I went out and looked over the cliff edge and my father said I came running back crying and saying that someone had built a big fence on the beach. The previous day, all that had been visible of the groin that runs the length of the beach, was small wooden squares, the tops of the vertical posts. On the morning after the storm the groin was about 8 feet tall. It was amazing that a storm could displace so much sand in just one night.

I have many happy memories of Walcott. I remember the cottage nearest the cliff edge had a fence built around it and in the following years, when we went back to visit whilst holidaying in the area, that cottage became abandoned as the cliffs eroded and it moved closer and closer to the edge. I remember plants growing wildly inside one of the cottages as it was also abandoned. The last time I visited, probably about 30 years ago, I think the cottage we stayed in was the next one to the cliff edge and may now have followed its neighbours into the sea.