We ran races along the sands and played cricket and rounders.
Day at the Seaside Project August 2012
Interviewee: Harry Mercer born in North Shields 1922
We used to spend a lot of time at the beach. We had to walk two miles there and two miles home again. There was a tram, but we didn’t have the money for the fare. We would stay on the beach most of the day. I was afraid of the water so never went swimming but enjoyed plodging. We ran races along the sands and played cricket and rounders. We went to play on the rocks looking for crabs and shells. Sometimes we slipped and fell but we were young and didn’t care. The weather always seemed to be sunny and the beach was always crowded.
There would be ten or fourteen children and we took ham paste sandwiches; always managed to get sand in them. The ice cream man used to come on a tricycle; it was a halfpenny to buy an ice cream and it was a luxury. There was also the shuggies. We didn’t go on often as we didn’t have much money.
I used to like going roller skating at the Plaza. It has gone now, and I miss it
We always had a good time on the beach sometimes we got shouted at for kicking sand up at people.
Tynemouth pool held swimming galas and races. I didn’t swim but I liked to watch.