Childhood

Gun Street. No.2 has a carved face over the door

My grandfather had to retire from the sea when he was 60, and in the crab season from March until September, he and grandmother sold crabs from a little shop at the top of Gun Street, two up from where we lived. Later, my father and mother took over the shop.

The shop at the top of Gun Street

Grandfather Joyful and Grandma Sarah

Myrtle House is on the extreme RHS of the photo

My grandparents lived at 32 Beeston Road. Grandfather had this house built in the late 1900’s just as the town of Sheringham became  a holiday seaside resort, when visitors were well off people who employed nannies to look after their children.



It was at this time that hotels and boarding houses were built. The beach and the golf links were the attractions.

Enjoying the sun and sea air at the Leas

On the sea front, tents were set out on the prom  and on the stones, some two rows deep to cope with the demand. Grandfather had a  number of canvas tents and was the first to have wooden huts, made by Emery’s, the boat builders. All of these were kept at 32 Beeston Road, the lighter canvas tents were stored in the ‘middle’ room and the wooden huts were kept in the shed.

Canvas tents at Sheringham around 1904

At Easter, the tents and huts were taken down on a barrow to the beach and prom, and put together. After school, I and my father carried then down the side of the house. I remember on one  occasion I dropped my end, I wasn’t more than twelve at the time, and damaged the heavy wooden doors. I got punished for dropping my end of the hut with a kick where it hurts.

Wooden Huts

 
I looked after the tents and huts cleaning them, scrubbing the wooden floors at the weekends getting them ready to be let again.

In the summer after my father took over the crab shop, I boiled the crabs while he was at sea. I also had a crab round, he bought me a trade cycle and I took out orders, and had my regular customers in Beeston Road, the “White City”, now Pine Grove, and all of the [Sheringham] Common.







Key:  1 - Beeston Road
         2 - Gun Street
         3 - The Common
         4 - Pine Grove