Footprints Beach Hut
In the 1950’s Gorleston Beach was populated by a whole range of brightly coloured beach huts. The huts were right on the beach and subject to the ravages of the weather. Many were badly damaged each year.
John and Grace Bolger lived in Bungay. John was a welder in the Lowestoft shipyards and Grace worked in a local garage ‘doing the books’. They had one son, Michael born in 1951. That’s me! They didn’t have a lot of money and their beach hut in Gorleston was their pride and joy. At every opportunity the family travelled from Bungay to have a day at the seaside.
I was educated by nuns and they were able to take ‘evil’ to a whole new level! Each year we were taken to Gorleston for our school outing. Great for me because I had the beach hut and Mum and Dad used to make sure they were there that day. After our first outing ‘the evils’ figured out that a beach hut was a far more pleasant place to spend the day than sitting on a bench or on the sand. Every year after that they were less unpleasant to me for a couple of weeks before the trip to guarantee their hut invitation! Happy Days!
Each October my Dad and I went with a ‘man with a lorry’ from Bungay to take the hut apart and transport it back to Bungay. Repairs were carried out over the winter and in April we made the return journey. Until, one year, the repairs were going to cost too much and they reluctantly gave up their pitch. I’m sure they regretted it for many years.
Down the years they moved to their dream bungalow in Bungay and enjoyed a happy life together. Grace died first at the young age of 67 and John lived on to enjoy his grandchildren finally passing away in February 2012 – in Gorleston Hospital. He was born on January 21st 1925 and on the same date in 2022 we finally sold his bungalow AND signed to buy……..a beach hut in Gorleston!
It was named ‘Footprints in the Sand’. When they moved to their dream bungalow they had the poem of the same name over the mantlepiece.
So, if you are enjoying some time in ‘Footprints’ please just raise a glass and a smile to Grace and John.
