Magical memories of my childhood summers in Bridlington - Yorkshire Post Letters

An EXCELLENT article by Peter Tuffrey on Bridlington (The Yorkshire Post, August 11), but it mainly covered a period before its readers were born.
People enjoy the nice weather at Bridlington.People enjoy the nice weather at Bridlington.
People enjoy the nice weather at Bridlington.

Perhaps I can cover some of that later period with some of my own reminiscences.

In the early 1940s our family holidayed at St Annes, on the west coast, the east coast being considered unsafe because it was thought that a German invasion could take place anywhere along it. In fact Bridlington’s north pier was closed and it was rumoured that it was mined.

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Once the invasion threat was past we started holidaying at Bridlington.

This reader has fond childhood memories of Bridlington.This reader has fond childhood memories of Bridlington.
This reader has fond childhood memories of Bridlington.

The year was 1943 and we holidayed there for the next eight years.

In that year the north pier was still closed.

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In the harbour were moored two RAF air sea rescue launches, their main job being to pick up pilots who had bailed out of their crippled planes.

In the North Bay, about three miles out to sea was a metal structure that fighter pilots used for target practice.

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The pleasure crafts started doing a roaring trade, and this has continued to this day.

I remember well the Boy’s Own and the Yorkshire Belle.

But, my favourite was the Yorkshireman, which was a large tug that was painted black and white.

It spent the summer at Bridlington, and winter down on the Humber.

Looking back I found the accommodation strange. We ‘kept ourselves’.

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This meant that my mother shopped every day for food which the house owner then prepared for us.

When me and my father went fishing in the bay on one of the many cobbles, our catch was prepared and cooked for us.

Bridlington was almost but not quite the ideal resort at that time. The comparison was always with Scarborough.

Bridlington is flat, as compared with its northern neighbour.

It has a safe beach and swimming is safe.

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This was always given as the reason why Bridlington never had a great outdoor pool, as Scarborough did.

In fact its northern neighbour had two outdoor pools, one in the north bay which was a pleasure to swim in, and was way ahead of its time.

The other being in the south bay. This pool was unique in two ways.

A rough sea hit its outer wall and washed into it every high tide.

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And it was the only pool in the North of England, possibly in the whole of the country, that had a ten metre diving board.

Editor’s note: first and foremost - and rarely have I written down these words with more sincerity - I hope this finds you well.

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Sincerely. Thank you.

James Mitchinson

Editor