In the summer we could get into a bathing costume at home, and run down the road and down the lane between Len Haward’s fish shop and The Towers and go to Pier Shore to swim.
Yarmouth shores High Tide
We would jump off the Royal Solent Yacht Club’s stone jetty, which did not add to our popularity at that time ! Serena Dias de Deus nee Hunt
Sandhard 1950s
Swimming at school?
I bloody hated it. We went to Sandhard twice. The wind was blowing, the waves were full of sand. You got sand in your eyes, sand in your mouth.
I worked on the harbour for all those years but I never learned to swim.
LesTurner b 1944
Carol Cotton at Love Shore
Love Shore was where we went to swim, Pier Shore was where we went for the rock pools.
I used to go there with my father, Bun Cotton, to collect winkles. He’d bring them home and boil them up and eat them, but not me. I liked collecting them but not eating them.
Your parents would let you go to Love Shore and say, you’re not to swim unless there’s an adult around, and we didn’t, we just played on the beach and in the water.
Carol Corbett b 1946
Mill at Yarmouth with Gasworks Cottages beyond
Swimming lessons? Learnt to swim on my own at the Mill. We were in and out of the water all summer.
I just learnt to swim in the river. I’d nip over the wall, and into the water if the tide was right. Yes, I spent more time in the river than I did on the beach.
We used to get big oil drums and planks and make rafts and set off paddling. You’d get half way up the river and look round, and one drum’s gone floating off that way and the other one’s gone the other way, and there you were in the water, not on the raft anymore. Yes, it was good down there. Brian Pomroy b1937
I remember that we used to go swimming with the school at Love Shore only when the tide was high. One day a large boat went up the Solent and nearly all our clothes got washed away. After that the school wasn’t too keen on us going again.
Sue Russell nee Hayles
In the summer holidays there would be maybe 6 mums with families down at Loveshore. We’d pack up picnics and spend all day there.
Eileen Smith nee Lansdowne
swimming at Love Shore
The lane leading to Loveshore
Our headteacher, Miss Martin she was then, would take us swimming at Love shore, the whole class. She had a roller towel to help you to learn to swim. You lay in the water through the towel, with it round your middle and she held you up while you paddled. It was a good method!
It was wonderful living in the High Street, just opposite the lane down to Loveshore. On a hot day, you’d change, then run over the road and down to Love Shore. If we went for a picnic tho’, we’d go over the bridge to Sandhard.
Pat Burt nee Adams 1929 Photo
There were sometimes dolphins in the Solent when you were swimming along off Yarmouth.
I do remember one occasion when we had been practising our mile swim, a thin little girl who was a good swimmer set off for the pier before us. As I got near to the pier the current was getting stronger and it was harder work. Florrie Knee called out to me to come and help her. She wasn’t in trouble but the little girl was, under the pier, and Florrie was trying to help her. Although she was a good swimmer, the tide was pulling her and she was tired. Florrie and I managed to help her ashore, and she ran home. Nobody ever knew what had happened, or what nearly happened.
Gerry Sheldon nee Haward b1924
I can remember teaching myself to swim at Love Shore with one hand on the wall until I let go.
Pauline Harwood nee Hatch b 1928
I loved our visits to Love Shore once or twice a week.
I cant imagine how from a safety point of view that could happen today.
I learned to swim quite quickly (no armbands etc) and ended up with a silver medal in 1934 for swimming a mile, from Eastmore, Bouldnor, to the Pier at Yarmouth accompanied by a rowing boat.
Florrie Sloper nee Knee b 1922