Seaside

Random evenings leave me to randomly stumble across the Internet, sometimes looking for old pictures of film stars, movie prints but sometimes just more normal things, to hunt down pictures of places I've been to or lived. Although the people and the age of the image remain nameless and unknown on the majority of the prints I've found upon Old UK Photos they capture a changing era.

Here at Filey, this image captures a lady and three children only one of which - a young boy wearing his cap, look back yet not directly at us. With the high tide lapping by the slop back to the promenade, the children look down into the waves. We can only imagine the warning suggestions to keep back from the sea coming from their guardian or mother behind them, her hands gripping and pulling up her long skirt to save the material from the seas wetness. Yet in the background a hazy figure hangs daringly, his hand gripping into the rung of the metal railings.

Again at Filey this is a scene still captured with endless pony and donkey rides up and along the beach. The lines of unhappy looking pony's can still be seen today as they are so truly visualised in this images the girl in the foreground her face painted in shadow as she sits side-saddle awaiting her ride.

Bridlington in the 1890s showcases the ability and role of the British seaside in being a space for the masses highlighted through the vast numbers of people filling the scene, most especially in the mid ground of people spilling down into the sea. In the foreground our eyes are drawn to capturing the smartly suited men and delicately women carrying their parasols to shade from the suns glare, both sexes leisurely strolling and catching the sea air, and atmosphere credited for improving the health.