Figure 1.--A popular activity at British beach resorts during the inter-War era was breach-front preaching. And this included special effots to appeal to childrenas can be seen here. This approached activities akin to day camps or vacation all-week sundy school, although the children could come and go at any time. Some parents would actually drop off the kids as a kind of morally uplifting baby sitting alternative. Here we see this acivity on the beach and seawall at Lowestoft during 1933.

Lowestoft is a North Sea coast port in Suffolk which is part of East Anglia. At the time it was a fishing port of some importance, but also had a pier and popular beaches. The center of the tourist trade was Claremont Pier built in 1903. It is Lowestoft’s principal pier. It served the local community and tourists staying in local hotels as well as steamers coming from London. There would have been all kinds of entertaiment activities on the pier for these children, but here they are off the beach. The beaches are quite different than the Channel beaches. They are sandy and gently slopeing, ideal for children playing in the sand. And the water as at all North Sea beaches is really cold--even in the Summer. A British reader writes, "We went to the North Sea coast from Yorkshire (to Scarborough) and the North Sea is known for being freezing unlike the channel resorts on the South Coast. It is interesting that they ran steamers to Lowestoft from London! I didn't know that before." A World War I naval battle was fought off Lowestoft. We have an image showing an unidentified family at Lowestoft durng the early 1930s. A few years after this photograph was taken, World War II broke out and the pier was taken over by the Army. After the War the Army kept it for several years and was then largely abandoned. It has since been partially restored. The local authorities explain the state in 2005, "Unfortunately, further damage over the years has left the pier somewhat the worse for wear. Although much has been done to restore the shoreward end, the pier head is very run-down and remains closed to the public. Still, there’s a fair bit of entertainment to be had on what’s left of it, with an amusement arcade, take-away food and all the rest of it. Special mention should go to Captain Nemo’s Fish & Chips. Why not get a Blue Raspberry Slush Puppy to go with that battered huss?"

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Created: 3:33 PM 3/7/2017
Last updated: 3:33 PM 3/7/2017