Sheringham, twixt sea and pine.

One final memory of my schooldays in Sheringham:

“It was 6 February 1952 and my eleventh birthday. I skipped happily to school that morning, full of excitement of what my special day would bring. Alas, in morning assembly, Mr Day, our headmaster, broke the news to us all of the death of King George VI. I went home in tears.”

I shall always remember that day.

Beeston Road Methodist Chapel Choir c.1951 (left picture)
Malcolm Rix, choirmaster, with members of the choir, which includes Stanley Craske and his son Roy, Roy Brownsell, Olive Rix, Sheila and Joan Temple. Ashley Gray joined the choir a year later.

The choir at Beeston Road chapel. Sheringham Minors football team.

Sheringham Minors Football Team c.1950s (right picture)
Back row, left to right: Trevor Randall, Roy Craske, Brian Baker, Bob Battrick, John Newland; Front row:George Price, John Williams, Brian Algar, Brian Jarvis, Geoff Shepherd and Mike Craske.

Beeston Road Methodist Chapel

Beeston Road Methodist chapel, 19

Built in 1859, it is seen here up for sale, circa 1968, due to a new church being built on Cromer road.

Chapel converted into residential units.

Today the scene is much different, with the former chapel converted into residential units.

THEN: A view of High Street, possibly taken during the 1940s, shows a much-quieter Sheringham than that of today.

It’s 11.10am on a Sunday morning and a small crowd has gathered next to the Town Clock for a quiet ‘mardle’, or perhaps awaiting the arrival of the Salvation Army.

SHERINGHAM is set ‘Twixt Sea and Pine’, or so the town sign proclaims. This is, of course, not an idle boast as the town is indeed surrounded on its southern flank by miles of undulating upland, known as the Sheringham Woods, whilst to its north are breathtaking views out over the North Sea.

I write of the Sheringham as I knew it, nearly forty years ago, having been born and brought up in the popular seaside resort with my early days spanning the war years. Going back today I realise that Sheringham hasn’t really changed in itself, it’s just had to adapt to more modern times, but it’s still the same old town, with the same ever-encroaching sea pounding on the shores, and it still carries the same old charm it had during the time I was proud to be there.

In the early days, long before even I was on the scene, Sheringham – or Lower Sheringham as it was called then – was a mere cluster of fishermen’s cottage clinging to life along the cliff edge. In those days, fishing was the main occupation of a great many of the locals, or Shannocks as the Sheringham-born folk were called. They fished for cod, skate, plaice, mackerel and herring, and trapped crabs and lobsters, with much of their catch destined for the London market and hotels.

The winchman.

The Winchman
Enjoying his pipe, Bob ‘Rally’ West stands ready at the winch.

The Slipway
Crab boats and flint cottages near the West End slipway.

Linocuts by Ashley Gray.

With the opening of the railway to the town in 1887, greater numbers of people flocked to the town and a flourishing tourist industry was born, resulting in several hotels being built to cater for the new industry. The climate on this part of the coast is more equable than many other districts, as, due to the north-easterly outlook, the summer heat is rarely unbearable and the bracing sea airs offer invigorating qualities, or so it is claimed!

The Sheringham I remember, with much affection, is that of the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s, when the pace of life was much slower than it is today and when we, as children and young adults growing up, were satisfied with much less. Mind you, in those early days just after the Second World War, during a period of austerity and hardship, we had few ‘treats’to look forward to: no television or computer games.

In those early days, there were none of the things we take for granted today – so we just had to make our own amusement! However, it wasn’t all doom and gloom in Sheringham just after the war, as I recall it, sometimes the little things in life seemed so special:

“When I had the odd sixpence in my pocket, with my friend Victor Weston from up Avenue Road South, I would go to Smithson’s shop at the bottom end of the Avenue. There Mr Smithson would sell us a bottle of ginger beer, Steward & Pattesons, I think it was, and we would sit on the pavement outside his shop and have a swig. It was the hottest ginger beer we’d ever tasted, as I recall, and we would challenge each other to a contest to see who could take the most swigs before it burnt our mouths. I cannot recall the outcome, however!”

As youngsters we all went to the Sheringham Infants’ and Primary School, which was at the end of Cremer Street and stretched as far as George Street, I recall. We were all expected to drink a third-of-a-pint of milk at breaktime, and I disliked milk! In the winter, matters were made much worse by the milk being frozen – due to the cold weather – when delivered by the dairy. The teacher would stand the crate of bottled milk in front of the classroom coal fire to thaw out – it was ’orrible!

Then there was the spoonful of cod-liver oil – enough said about that the better!

Our school’s long gone now, of course, replaced by a series of apartments, probably for the well-to-do, and the Beeston Road chapel, where we worshipped, also became someone’s home!

You may well be asking, who were they and why were they visiting Sheringham Carnival during the summer of 1966?

The answer is quite a simple one; it was all part of an elaborate stunt to publicise a forthcoming production by the Sheringham Players, though what it had to do with the subject of the play itself is anybody’s guess! But put Sheringham and its carnival on the map it did, with a front page report in the Daily Express on Thursday 11 August 1966. For a few days the nation read all about the ‘goings-on’ in Sheringham, and for the two people in the photograph, who shall remain anonymous, it was fame for a day!

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For many years, Sheringham has staged a Carnival, usually during the second week in August. Back in the ‘good old days’ there would also be a regatta, with seaside fun and sandcastle building competitions and the greasy pole.

During the 1966 Carnival week, two mysterious visitors, ‘foreigners’ to the town, put in an appearance.