AT the May meeting of Thorverton History Society, Amyas Crump took us all back in time with his collection of colour slides, many from July 1945 for his talk entitled “A day out – at the seaside?”.

Amyas had rescued many of these slides from house clearances and didn’t know the characters who appeared in them. There were images of old fair grounds with steam engines, merry-go-rounds and fortune tellers caravans.

Scenes of local hunts were a popular tourist attraction for those looking to visit the countryside. Photographs of crowded railway stations showed families going for a day out at the seaside with the adults wearing their Sunday best – men dressed in suits and ties and women in posh frocks and hats.

For those looking for something a bit more adventurous there were local flights to the Isles of Scilly in a Dragon Rapide bi plane.

A slide from July 1962 showed Thorverton railway station complete with steam engine and roses grown and tended by the late Bill Rogers.

The railways ran excursions to Dawlish and Teignmouth and holiday makers could stay in camping coaches at Dawlish Warren.

Char a banc tours over Dartmoor could be yours for five shillings (25p). Steam boat rides were popular and you could do the coach, train and boat trip in the South Hams.

In those days Totnes still had coastal shipping to bring timber to the docks. Dartmouth is the only place to have a railway station but no railway.

The station was built but the then owners of Greenway objected to a bridge being built over the river.

Slides were shown of Bournemouth with anti aircraft guns still in place post war. The middle of the pier had been removed to deny invaders an easy place to land.

One slide showed a lady paddling in the sea with World War Two anti-invasion scaffolding behind her. We were shown more images of families on the beach, again with the adults in Sunday best but at least the children were able to play in the sand with buckets and spades.

Paddle steamer trips along the coast were popular and ran to a time table. Redundant World War Two motor torpedo boats or fast patrol boats were used for trips around the bay.

Brighton beach would be packed on a sunny summer day. The old Victorian bandstands were a popular attraction with many sat around them in deck chairs which were available for hire.

Amyas spends a great deal of time trying to identify the locations of the images. Camel rides were available for those visiting London Zoo.

A slide from 1956 showing Tower Bridge included many dockside cranes which are now gone.

Amyas ended the evening on a local note with a slide showing the Royal train at Thorverton Railway Station with a helicopter taking off in the background.

Robert Turner