My Grandparents on Gt Yarmouth Beach 1949
My Nan and I on Gt Yarmouth beach - 1982
My Childhood Memories of South Denes Caravan Park and Great Yarmouth
By Heidi.F.Frost
We always took our holidays at South Denes Caravan Park; there was never any question of it being anywhere else. Our family had been visiting Great Yarmouth since the 1940's and we took our last holiday there in 1989 - when South Denes Camp was on the verge of closure. The first holidays I remember consisted of two caravans with our family divided between them; My Nan, Grandad, Mum and Dad and I in one and my Mums sister and her family in the other. In later years it would be just Nan, Grandad, Mum, Dad and I squashing into Grandads Morris Marina amongst bedding and boxes of food for our annual excursion to Yarmouth
By the time I came to Great Yarmouth for the first time (1973 at the age of 1) there were other sites (North Denes I believe) that had introduced electricity and running water on their sites - some even had toilets in the vans, but for us the fun of the holiday was fetching the water from a standpipe, emptying buckets from under the caravan and going over to the toilet blocks whenever nature called. All power in the caravans (lighting and cooking) was provided by a bottle of Calor Gas outside the caravan!
Our holiday well and truly started as we approached Great Yarmouth on what my Grandad called "The Acle straight". The horizon always revealed outlines of familiar places long before we had arrived; the chimney from the power station on South Denes, Nelsons monument and as we drew closer even the top of the big dipper at the Pleasure Beach would become visible. Driving along the sea front towards South Denes, my head would be hanging out of the window getting my first lungful of sea air. My Nan always said that Yarmouth sea air cured all ills, and I don't think she was wrong. Once we had arrived at the site and collected the keys for the caravan from the camp office, we would go straight to the caravan - which was always on the front row - we never hired a van that wasn't on the front - and we were usually near the two concrete stumps (an outfall diffuser?) that stood in the sea. I think that they had something to do with the power station; my Grandad called them the Colin Jones Stump due to the fact that in the 1960's someone had allegedly gone out to the stump and spray painted "Colin Jones" all over the front of it! The first thing I would do is leap out of the car and count how many oil rigs I could see on the horizon before dashing onto the beach to feel the sand between my toes while my Mum and my Nan unpacked the car and organised the caravan for the week ahead.
The Harbour Mouth was also a favourite place of mine and my Grandads. Every morning, before breakfast, my Grandad and I used to take a walk down to the Harbour Mouth while Mum and Nan cooked breakfast. My Dad would always go and get the morning papers from the tiny paper shop on the site that was run by an old lady who usually had her little Yorkshire terrier sitting on the counter. The other shops from what I remember, (we always stayed on B Block) were the small supermarket, the amusement arcade, the hire shop (where you could hire bicycles), the paper shop and how could anyone forget the fish and chip shop! In the 80's an American style take away diner also appeared and of course the camp office. The next job of the day, before we'd even had breakfast, would be to go and get the days supply of water from one of the standpipes located on the site. After breakfast it would be off to the toilet blocks with your toilet bag under your arm and a towel over your shoulder to get a wash and to clean your teeth. The washbasins had "push button" taps on them; you had to push them down really hard and as soon as you took you hand off it the tap would slow to a trickle and then stop! If you pushed down on them too hard the water would splash out at you and you would start the day getting drenched!
We always went out every day. Most of the time it would be a walk into town and a trip into the one of the museums; The Maritime Museum, Anna Sewells Cottage to name a couple of favourites of mine, the waxworks (which used to give me nightmares for weeks for some reason), or a trip down the river Yare or the broads on one of the three boats that were operating at the time; The Broadland Belle, The Golden Galleon or Queen of The Broads.
It would always be back to the Caravan for dinner - which would always be a cooked meal miraculously produced on the tiny cooker in the van. After a quick trip to the paper shop to get a comic or an ice cream for me, we would all have "forty winks" so that we would be ready to face the evening. We always walked a lot on holiday. Once we had parked up and unpacked the car, sometimes the car would stay there all week without being used once. The evenings would see us walking along the prom towards the pleasure beach, which we would usually visit. The rides in those days were not as complicated as they are now! It's amazing how fairground rides have changed in the last 30 years! The big dipper was classed as the scariest ride there in my book, and I never even ventured onto it until I was 13! The Water Chute was enough for me, and if I wasn't riding on it then I was standing in front of the glass screen watching other people fly down it. After the fair we would usually head for "The Come and Look Inn" shop - which I adored! It had so many toys and souvenirs in it that I always came back from Yarmouth with far more toys than I went with!
There was also a pub that we would visit a lot (at my Grandads insistence God rest his soul); The Camden on Queens Road, before walking back to the camp and into the fish and chip shop for some supper before heading back to the caravan to watch the lights on the boats and oil rigs twinkling on the horizon. Falling asleep to the sound of the sea was nothing short of bliss.
Merrivale model village was a source of fascination to me, and no holiday was complete without a visit. Also Joyland, with its "snails" and "tubs" ride - both of which I would go on with my Nan . One year we visited the Roller Skating rink next to Wellington Pier; all went really well until I crashed into a barrier and winded myself - ouch! One evening of the holiday would see Mum and Nan taking me to a show or to the Hippodrome circus. I remember going to see Paul Daniels on Britannia Pier one year.
The last holiday I had in Great Yarmouth at South Denes was in 1989. I was 17 by this time but still got totally dizzy with excitement at the prospect of some "Yarmouth Sea Air". The site was in such a run down state that we were never to return.
I last visited Yarmouth in 1997 with my (now) husband. We stayed in a B&B for three nights, and I did venture up to South Denes Camp to see what was left. The sight that greeted me left me open mouthed with shock. My Nan and Grandad had passed away in 1994 and 97 so going back there was a bit of a pilgrimage for me anyway, but I am just glad they never saw it in the state it was in. We walked right up to the Harbour Mouth and back along to the Pleasure Beach and I couldn't believe how derelict it had become.
This year, we are returning again - for the first time in 10 years. We have three children, and I want them to experience the same rush from Yarmouth sea air that I got as a child. We are also staying in a caravan - although things have moved on somewhat since the South Denes era! I doubt that I will visit South Denes Camp....I feel that I paid my respects there 10 years ago, but believe me, even now as a 35 year old mother of three.....the prospect of that sea breeze and the smell of fish and chips has still got me running round with anticipation inside. If you see a car driving along the seafront this summer with a woman (with a manic grin on her face) hanging her head out the window taking in great gulps of sea air...it could well be me!