Oh I Do Love To Be Beside The Seaside

Marauding gangs of Mods & Rockers at Brighton, in one of several seaside skirmishes in the summer of 1964

For most, the English seaside in the postwar years has a particular nostalgia.

Donkey rides, Punch & Judy, sandcastles, holiday camps, beauty competitions, pink peppermint rock, crazy golf and the fun fair featured in the gregarious public imagination.

At the margin between land and sea was the liminal sense that authority was diluted and permission given to go a little further in every direction than one did at home. For children it seemed an essential part of their growing up: the fresh salt air, the paddling, the civil engineering projects on the sands, the thrills of the fairground rides, the picnics and the relationship with wasps - and all in the company of jolly, indulgent adults. Your forgot the inclement British weather, the lousy catering and the tetchy landlady at your bed + breakfast.

Typical saucy 50s postcard

One of Beryl Cook's quintessential images of the public at play in the 1980s

'Last year it was seaweed flies' George Sprod 1954

from 'The Best of Punch Cartoons'

This beautiful film of Blackpool comes from the BFI

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=BFIfilms&view=videos

And finally, Cliff Richard & The Shadows and a red London bus star in Summer Holiday 1963