Figure 1.-- Here I am on the beach, perhaps Selsey June 1954. I'm on the right. Apparently I polished off my ice cream faster than my friend. Actually, I've no idea who the other child is. I'd had at least two of these one-piece woolen garments; this one's evidently doing a second year and is a bit small for me! I wore these on the beach and probably in the sea: almost certainly nowhere else. I have no recollection of this outfit.

In the summer, we always had a beach holiday: until I went to school, we went in June, thereafter it had to be August. We often went to the same place more than once; the earlier holidays were not too far from our home, some 20 miles NW of London. In 1952 and 1953 we went to Swanage; in 1954 to Selsey; then in 1955 and 1956 to Sandown, in the Isle of Wight. Catching the ferry (the same one, appropriately named Vectis, on all four trips) from Southampton to Cowes was quite an adventure for me! We were able to take our car across to the Island on the ferry, so we were able to get around quite a bit. 1957 and 1958 saw us go rather further afield, to Tenby (Dinbych y Pysgod). Before the M4 motorway this was quite a trek. 1959, 1960 and 1961 was us flying from Southampton or Bournemouth to Guernsey (the only times I've left the UK). We found the buses in Guernsey to be excellent, so once again we had no trouble getting around. In 1962 we were back in Wales, at Cricieth, then from 1963 we always went to Cornwall, staying at two farms. Until then, we had always stayed at guest-houses that provided bed, breakfast and evening meal, normally within walking distance of a good beach. I always liked to spend most of the holiday on the beach, building ponds or defences against the sea, depending on the state of the tide. As I couldn't swim properly until about 1963, I was less enthusiastic about going into it than were my parents. It was also a bit cold! At first, I seem to have worn one-piece garments on the beach. One photo shows that I had rather grown out of the last of these, probably when I was 3: after that I wore ordinary swimming trunks.

David