Childhood Beach Hut

A Memory of Whitstable.

This scene of the old fishermen's beach huts shows my family's beach hut on the left.  The lady just about to enter the beach hut was my grandmother, I am playing on the beach and my sister is in the pushchair next to the lady.  Families had all the necessary facilities in the beach huts and almost every day of the summer holidays was spent down there.  My grandfather belonged to the Angling Society and there were frequent fishing competitions between the Society, the Ambulance Brigade, the Fire Brigade and the Police.  As a child, I was given the job of polishing the silver cups presented to the winners.

This scene has changed vastly since the 1950s.  A sea wall was built after the 1953 flood which restricted our view of the sea from the beach hut, and the huts, after being left to become derelict and listing at frightening angles during the 1980s, have now been rebuilt and refurbished as holiday chalets.  Originally, there was a six foot drop from the sea wall promenade down to the beach, but now, as an extra defense against the threat of flooding, the beach has been built up to the promenade and the beaches have been taken over by yachts and boats of all descriptions instead of laughing, playing children.