Childhood Memories.......

When I was a child boats seem to figure quite a lot in our enjoyment. Not that we owned a boat you understand, but one of the regular outings we used to take was to New Brighton, on Merseyside, where we would take a trip across the Mersey and back on either the Royal Iris or the Royal Daffodil ferry.

My Dad was the baby of his family and had four sisters, two of whom each had a lot of children. Some of my Dad's nieces and nephews were the same age as him with children of their own - I had lots of cousins! This meant that we would often have big family outings, someone would order a coach and we'd all clamber aboard to be taken New Brighton, That doesn't sound very exciting does it, well not until I tell you that it wasn't just a matter of sailing back and forth on the ferry, oh no there was much more to it than that. In 1953, the Wallasey Corporation were advertising Luxury Cruises, this was an attraction that no other resort could offer. Cruising on the magnificent air conditioned T.S.M.V. Royal Iris and Royal Daffodil, with their Ballroom, Cocktail and Lounge Bars, Buffet, Orchestra, etc. Fares were 2/- (10p) to 3/- (15p) per 2 hour cruise. You can see some pictures here.


Us children weren't allowed to go up on the deck unless we were with one of the adults, but we didn't mind because we had such fun being waltzed round the room whilst standing on an adult's feet. I think that's when my love of dancing started. By the time we disembarked the adults had all had 'a few jars' and would be singing all the way home on the coach, mostly us kids were asleep, exhausted from all the dancing!

Another outing we regularly took was a picnic to the Lake District - usually Windermere. Once again someone would order a coach and we'd all pile on, but this time the Mums would have made mountains of sandwiches all wrapped in the greaseproof paper in which the loaves had been wrapped. There would be bottles of pop for the children - lemonade, dandelion and burdock and bottles of beer for the adults. Once we arrived the blankets would be spread out and the picnic would start. We'd play cricket and hide and seek and more often than not we'd take a cruise on the Lake. The Lake District is such a beautiful place with the most spectacular scenery.

Then of course there was Blackpool, with it's Golden Mile. All us kids were kept busy on the coach by trying to spot the Tower first so we could claim the sixpence on offer. Back in the time when all summer's were GLORIOUS, we spent hours making sandcastles, riding donkeys and eating 'banana butties' on the beach, we'd change into swimsuits beneath a voluminous towel held by mum and go hurtling down the beach to the sea into which we plunged headlong - only to very quickly scoot out again because it was always freezing cold! In Blackpool you could take a trip into the sea on one of the amphibious trucks, which was really exciting for us kids. Then of course there was the pleasure beach with it's exciting rides, and invariably we would spend an hour there watching the laughing clown or messing about in the fun house or Noah's Ark.

We didn't just go to Blackpool in the summer of course, every year in October we would go by coach to see 'the lights', the famous Blackpool Illuminations. Once again someone in the family would order a coach and off we'd go. Us kids always thought it an adventure going to 'the lights' because it was dark, we thought we were being allowed to stay up late because it was dark, not realizing that because of the time of year it was dark at 4 p.m.!

Of course the highlight of the year was Christmas, but I'll write about that some other time.