Serendipity and a trip into my childhood memories of Hunstanton

I was walking past a little bric a brac shop at the end of the street the other day and was stopped in my tracks.  I spotted the little dish in the window and was convinced it was the pattern I remembered from a house in Hunstanton which belonged to my Great Aunt Margie and which we stayed in every year (usually off season!). 

 I bought the little dish and have since found out it was made by Midwinter around the 1930s - 1940s and is stamped with 'Brama' on the base.  I always asked to have the plate as I just loved the lady in her crinoline in the garden and the gold pattern.  Since then, I have seen many similar looking patterns but was never sure they were right.
The house we stayed in was at Hunstanton in Norfolk and was 28, Victoria Avenue.  I loved going there as you never knew what you would find.  The house was often rented out to friends and relatives and sometimes had other less than welcome visitors, who took advantage of it being occasionally empty.  Often, on arrival, Mum would have to spend some time sorting the toilet out.  One year, there was a big hole just inside the door and we all had to jump over it to get in.
It was a magical place to me though, with old metal spring mattresses which would attempt to throw you off the beds if you sat down too heavily.  There were two cane chairs with wooden poles which you could move into slots to adjust the angle of the back.  There were huge prints of coronations or parliament gatherings and pictures of John the Baptist.  There was a little ornament of the three carved monkeys, 'Hear, See and Speak no evil'.  There were some books that I remember - Howdy Doody with Princess SummerFallWinterSpring and one called 'Horace, the little black pig'.  There was a toaster (probably from the 1930s), which had sides that let down to place the bread in and then were put back up to toast.

Of course, Hunstanton itself was a wonderful place for a child.  At that time, at the end of the promenade, there was a fair with a proper Helter Skelter (removed in 2000 and according to the internet, renovated and available to hire) and my favourite Gallopers.  There was a lovely beach, striped cliffs,  crazy golf, roller skating rink, ice cream booths, cream cakes, knickerbocker glories and fish and chips.  There were two playgrounds, one with the 'Life on the Ocean Wave/Witches' Hat' ride, long since banned due to Health and Safety. There was a shop called Guise Brothers which sold buckets and spades, flip flops, nets, rock, and lots of other things necessary to a seaside holiday. There is a Green and we used to enjoy eating fish and chips while watching the sun go down.

We went back to Hunstanton in 2007 and found 28, Victoria Avenue.  It was looking rather better than it had done.  We were always told that HG Wells had lived there, but we were not convinced about that.  Why would he have lived here?  However, it was true - well, he certainly must have visited here.

The house is now included on a trail and has its own plaque!  (I did ask the owner's permission to take the photos, but I expect the owner is used to people stopping and and photographing now).  So, after all this time, finding the little dish with the pattern I remember has brought back many happy memories of many happy times at Hunstanton.

Granny's Memoirs - Christmas

Granny and Margie

Granny wrote a lovely description of a typical Christmas for her and the family, so, over the next few blog posts, I'll add her Christmas celebrations to my blog.

The few days before Christmas were a very exciting time for us. We children never sent cards or presents to friends and relations as children do now, but we were very busy decorating the house, fetching the Christmas tree and making chains of holly leaves for the church. We threaded the separate holly leaves on to a fine string which was threaded through a needle with a very big eye. It was painful work and damaging to the fingers but there was a great satisfaction in seeing the prickly snake grow and it looked very handsome twined round one of the pillars in church.
The morning of Christmas Eve was taken up with decorating the church, some of the children from the village used to come and help. We collected baskets of moss and trails of ivy, fetched cans of water, handed up scissors and wire and put little bunches of red flowers amongst the holly and blobs of cotton wool to look like snow. There were two big placards hung on the wall at Christmas and Easter. The Christmas one, “Christ is born” on a red ground and the Easter one, “Christ is risen” on a blue ground. We made a good deal of mess with the moss and the evergreens and tried to tidy up when all was finished, but the Church cleaner must still have spent a busy afternoon in the church. All the decorators came over to the Rectory for a cup of coffee and a mince pie. The children had cocoa and biscuits. We were always very tired and dirty and were glad to get clean and tidy for dinner.
I am sure that everyone is busy with all the things that need to be done and that in some ways, things haven't changed very much since Granny wrote this. However, the over-dependence on materialism that we seem to suffer from these days has left its mark on current Christmas preparations.

More from Granny

After Granny made her debut on my blog, I asked Mum for a photo of her when she was little. This was not an easy task as there don't seem to have been many taken. Mum did find this one, with Granny at the bottom left frowning, her sister Margaret (known as Margie, with a hard 'g' sound) and Hilda Mary at the top wearing a very posh hat. The back shows it is from Hilda Mary and I'll try to decipher it:

My darling Mother,

We had 4 of these Post Cards done for 1,50, when we went to town yesterday. Monica (Granny) has already told you in her letter that the J/Tour du Monde (?) did not have a Matinee on Thursday so as we had got into Bruxelles we did not want to go back having done nothing, so we went to 'The Merry Widow'. We all enjoyed it immensely, it was very well done and it was only 50. We must tell you all about when you come back, but to tell you how much I enjoyed it I will say I was not disappointed. The singing and dancing was sweet, but we were rather too high up to hear the words but I don't think that mattered we heard the music and saw the glorious dresses, it reminded us of those fashions at the ?: which are burnt(?)I hope you like this of us, it was an instant(?) and ready for us when we came from the theatre. With much love to Father and Brooke ? Hilda.

Mum said Hilda Mary was always very well dressed and took a great interest in clothes, as can be seen from her card. I remember visiting Auntie Mary and I do remember her wearing a suit and being very smart. Apparently, they went to school in Brussels for a while and Granny was about eight at this time which might explain her less than happy expression. I have tried to decipher the card as well as I can, but there remain some words I am not sure of, so have replaced them with question marks. It does give a fascinating glimpse into a different time.