The Bridlington Augustinian Society had hoped to resume evening meetings on 4th January. The pandemic has caused them to sadly postpone yet again. So for the benefit of members they have introduced a monthly newsletter with articles and photographs dedicated to local history. The first edition was sent to members on 1st December.
The first article was prompted by a photograph of a fair on High Green before the Green Dyke was drained, so probably before 1900. It features the Swing Boats of Mr R Payne, and member Christine Gatenby has researched that showman’s family.
Robert Payne lived in Beverley but by 1939 was living in Bridlington on the Esplanade with his son James William Payne, an “amusement caterer” and Robert’s daughter Gertrude Patching. Christine would love to learn more about the family.
Bro Frederick Stephens draws our attention to a shop window in High Street promoting local events and societies. The November display told the story of Ginger Lacey who spent his final years in Flamborough and Bridlington.
He was a highly decorated world war two fighter ace. He was shot down nine times but can claim the destruction of 28 enemy aircraft, including the Heinkel which bombed Buckingham Palace.
The society Prior, Maureen Bell, remembers her parents describing such wartime exploits when they lived in northwest Kent. She wished she had made a note of these conversations which would now be of particular historical interest.
She advises us all to keep such records, and equally importantly to write names and dates on the backs of photographs (in pencil only please). But, Maureen muses, how will we be able to access today’s records, mostly in digital form, in the future?
Also in the newsletter is a mystery photograph, young lads following a reaper in the hopes of getting a rabbit for the pot. But members don’t know where was the photograph taken?