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Old Porthcawl photograph
Posted by apollomed on July 25, 2009 - 12:52am
I was trying to find the old pic of the caravans in Porthcwl on here but it seems to have gone. Could someone resend it please as I want to send it to someone I know as a reminder. Lewis perhsp you could help on this one??
Thank you
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Here is an old photo of
Here is an old photo of caravan park.
http://oldukphotos.com/graphics/Wales%20Photos/Glamorganshire,%20Porthca...
Deleted.
Deleted.
I know the exact spot that
I know the exact spot that picture was taken from. That's Trecco Bay, circa 1950s. The breezeblock buildings at bottom left were a shop and toilet facilities. Notice also how all the caravans look homemade, which indeed most of them were. However when new owners took over the site all those lashed up caravans were banned, presumably to give Trecco Bay and Sandy Bay a more upmarket feel.
Also, all those wonderful sand dunes were bulldozed flat, thus making the site just another boring landscape like so many others. The dunes were magical to us as kids, and this photograph has brought back memories of wonderful times spent in Porthcawl; wind and rain and all.
On a sadder note about those times, every year there were quite a few drownings in Porthcawl, especially during that holiday fortnight. The sea around Trecco Bay and Sandy Bay was notorius for undercurrents that would sweep the unwary out to sea, and their bodies were found sometimes days later.
We used to call it Hiya Butt Bay or Shoomaesville because during miners' and factory forthnights, the last week of July, first week of August, the place was packed with your own family, friends and neighbours.
I haven't been back there, nor to Barry Island, for decades, but it was all we knew as kids. Nowadays, like so many others, I go to Europe on package deal holidays. Something that was unknown to us in the days when this picture was taken.
The Mediterranean then was the playground of the rich, and we couldn't even think about going to those exotic places with strange sounding names and even stranger cuisines. Porthcawl was fish and chips, candy floss, toffee apples and watered down beer (so rumour had it). Lasagne and red wine were totally unheard of.
Were things any better then? Some things definitely were, and though none of us had much spare cash to spend, even though we'd save all year round for the Porthcawl fortnight, we still seemed to have a more carefree time back then. Rose coloured specs maybe?
Great many summer holidays I
Great many summer holidays I spent in Porthcawl when I was a kid my gran had a caravan in sandy bay for years we went down there all piled into my dads old car that broke down once or twice on the way down.But we eventually got down there it was fantastic the smells of the sea and the fairground food wafting in the Porthcawl breeze usually windy was the word.
My gran loved the place so much she decided to purchase another caravan to rent to holiday makers and hence started a little business of her own at the end of about 10 or more years she owned 9 caravans and rented out 8 of them and kept one for herself. She was quite enterprising really for that time everyone thought she was a bit crazy for doing it but she knew better. So Porthcawl is and will remain one of my favourite places in Wales to visit when im there,yes I agree its a shame they flattened the dunes so that they could shove more sites and shops etc. in I played many a day on the huge dunes war games etc. best man falls it was very cool loads of fun.
Meanwhile my gran and gramps were at the fairground playing bingo or gramps sneaking off for a pint of local fairground beer which I remember when I reached drinking age was terrible stuff warm and flat. But the campers drunk it by the bucket full or so it seemed.
The story of Porthcawl was a real good time memory for lots of people miners and factory workers alike and us as kids being there was just lots of fun in the sea at the fairground and on the dunes it was Porthcawl at its best.
Finally lets not forget Fulgoni's ice cream 99s the best tasting ice cream even to this day.I think their still there in Porthcawl but gone are the little kiosks they had.
Anyway thx again for taking us all down memory lane with this thread its been fun remembering all those days and years spent there.