The
nice thing about the Trinity scrapbook is that there is nearly always
something of interest. Often I gloss over the years that do not
relate to me, but having recently visited Staithes I was interested to
read the 1951 school journey to the North Yorkshire Moors and Staithes.
[Read the original school
journey booklet]
Someone mentioned Staithes to me last July for the first time and then a
former colleague, Mark, asked me if I would like to use the 'Old Git's'
bus pass to travel up to the North East.
Mark, who is registered blind, was on half term and wanted to go back to
some of the places that he remembered as a child. Not knowing the
area I agreed. On day one we travelled from Bradford, via Leeds,
to Whitby. The journey from Leeds to Whitby took over 3.5 hours.
When I looked at the route of the trip from Northampton to Staithes it
states that it is 200 miles. The journey from Leeds to Whitby is
about 80 miles.
I wonder what the coach journey would have been like back in 1951
without i-pads, mobile phones and alcohol and cigarettes for the back
seat gang? I suppose everyone read the notes, studied the
itinerary and looked out of the windows at the countryside.
On page 9 there are a series of competitions including best photographs.
The prizes for two collections of specimens make me smile. Imagine
what you might find on the seashore now. On one school trip
to Wales, I remember a lad picking up what he thought was a fir cone.
He then realised that it was dried sheep droppings.
For anyone who has not visited Staithes, I would thoroughly recommend
it. In October it is quiet, but it gets very crowded in the summer
months. It is similar to Robin Hood's Bay. There is a car
park near to the main road and you have to walk down into the village.
I went to Staithes, having spent the night in Whitby. The second night
was in Redcar. Now that is a place to visit. It does
have a Greenwoods for the discerning gentleman! The tourist information
centre, although open until 5.00pm, had the grill across at 4.00 pm.
ready for a quick departure.
On day 3 we travelled, via Middlesbrough and the Transporter Bridge, to
South Shields.
Again there is a description of the Transporter Bridge on pages 11, 12
and 13. It was something that I had wanted to see since
watching the last Aufwiedersehen Pet series, where the bridge was
dismantled and sold to an Indian reservation in America.
Returning to page 5 and the programme, I wonder who knew the region that
well to plan the events?
The quality of the booklet is excellent - the notes and the typing up.
Would a typist today be able to type to such a high standard without a
spelling or grammar checker?
The hand drawn diagrams are also impressive. Now one can copy and
paste from the internet. In fact it is possible to get most of the
notes from the internet. Failing that, pages from books can be
scanned in and edited using the appropriate software.
The booklet must have taken hours to produce.
For those that do not know Staithes and the area, here are a few
pictures.
Keep the scrapbook going Ian.
Bill