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More Fond Memories...
In our last Chat Column, Terry Phillips kindly provided
photos of two features of 1950s Whitstable and it certainly
brought back some fond memories. These were the local
gymkhana and the rafts at
Tankerton.
He has now added to this collection with a some more shots on
the subject... and at least one might cause our readers to scratch
their heads a bit.
Baby Rafts...
One of Terry's earlier photos was this one.....
We believe it shows one of the big rafts that could be hired from
Tankerton Beach back in the 1950's. However, his latest photo shows a
similar scene....
It would be easy to link the two scenes but there is a problem.
This second shot shows baby rafts... and I don't recall any such thing at
Tankerton. So, I'll leave our readers to ponder the location and
add my own guess at the bottom of this page.
More on the Westmeads
Gymkhana...
In our last Chat Column, Terry provided a photo of a well known
local event of the 1950s.... the annual gymkhana. He has now
supplemented this with another shot and it is bound to bring back
more memories....
The gymkhana was held on Westmeads recreation ground and it was
quite a major issue in our diaries. The photo is taken on the
western side of the field looking north towards Wheatley Road.
Preparations started several days before the event with the
arrival of that big marquee and
smaller tents (from the Dover Marquee Company). These became playthings for us local kids... and we
tended to create min-havoc!
If anyone has special memories of the gymkhana, please let us
know.
The
Mini-Rafts...
Now... what about those mini-rafts? Let's take
another look....
Well, a big clue could be in the foreground
where we can see smooth, rounded chalk rocks. On the extreme
left, there is also an object that may be a piece of sharp
flint.
These features are normally associated with chalk
cliffs and, if the photo is local, that would probably mean....
the Isle of Thanet. In the Thanet area, chalk cliffs contain a
thin seam of flint. When cliff slippage occurs, the chalk debris
is quickly washed and smoothed by the sea into large oval stones.
However, the flint is harder and less easily refined.
The main Thanet beaches (Margate and Ramsgate) are
some way from the cliffs and usually free of such debris. However,
the quieter more secluded beaches are not. These include Kingsgate
Bay, Stone Bay, Joss Bay and Botany Bay. Of these, the two most
popular were (and still are) Joss and Botany and these might well
have been able to support a raft hire business.
Of course, I might be completely wrong as the shot
may have been taken in another part of the UK!
Thanks To...
I would like to say thanks to Terry for taking the
time to scan and forward these and other photos in recent times.
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