As a young boy brought up in the mining valleys of S. Wales our annual treat was a day trip to Barry Island on August Bank Holiday Monday - Walking down from the coach park to the beach were some telescopes where you could pay a penny and look at the ships out at anchor waiting for berths in Barry and Cardiff. One was also expected to read the name on the nearby lightvessel.
Many years later I was on a Cargo ship coming from Rangoon to Avonmouth and as we sailed past the old anchorage (nothing there of course!) I noticed the name on the lightvessel - Breaksea -
Wow it was like being hit by a thunderbolt, how the memories flooded back. Being sick on the bus, being sick from swallowing sea water, getting sunburned every year, boiled egg sandwiches with sand in them, the men all wearing suits, some even waistcoats - all in the blazing sun - the only concession to the heat being an open neck shirt collar, stick of rock to take home,going round the fairground on the way back up to the bus, drunken singing of hymns on the bus going home. frequent stopping of the bus for the purpose of recycling the grape !
Happy days long gone.
I happened to visit Barry Island last summer - it looks roughly the same - but all the people were missing.