In recent posts, I've been looking at some academic papers which analyse Eastbourne and other resorts along the Sussex coast. I think I'm starting to get a better understanding now of the big national shifts that influenced the direction these towns took at various stages in their history.
The first such shift is the emergence of the idea of a holiday by the sea. The idea was made possible by wealth created during the industrial revolution. People now had more disposable income, and the free time, to take such holidays. It was this idea which brought Eastbourne into being in the first place.
The second is the arrival of the railway. People could now get to the coast quickly and easily. This also affected the way towns like Eastbourne were organized, with their populations concentrated around the station. Wealthier people could build new villas a little further out. Some commuted to London.
The third is the shift in the main selling point of these seaside holidays. They were no longer primarily about health, although that remained part of it. Visitors expected entertainment. Hence in Eastbourne the pier was built, the bandstand, the parks and baths. But the permanent residents were keen to maintain the town's appearance - and its tone – and not fund things of no apparent benefit to themselves. Tensions arose.
Finally, the bus appeared, as an alternative, more flexible means of transport. Now working people could live further from their place of employment. In due course, the motor car came too, giving wealthy motorists even greater independence. Towns became less concentrated around the station. Housing estates spread over adjoining farmland and countryside.
It happens that all these big shifts are reflected in some way in the pages of one of the books on my summer reading list - "The Fortnight in September", a novel by "Journey's End" dramatist R C Sherrif. For those unfamiliar with it, the novel details the preparations of a South London family for their eagerly-anticipated annual trip to Bognor. It goes on to explore the degree to which the subsequent fortnight meets their various expectations of it. Published in 1931, you'd be hard-pressed to find a more richly observed account of the holidays taken during that period.
The shifts are reflected in the social standing of the Stevens family, where they live, what they do for a living. They are reflected in the account of the holiday itself, where the family stay, what they do. And finally, they are seen in the changes the family see around them, as Bognor expands, and the effects of buses and cars are seen.
The father of the family, Mr Stevens, works as an invoice clerk in a warehouse in the city. He commutes by train from his terraced house in Dulwich. The family home backs on to the railway embankment. In the garden, and in those around and on both sides of the track, survive gnarled old apple trees. The housing estate, and the railway track which runs through it, are built on the site of what would once have been a country orchard. Mr Stevens is one of the new lower-middle class, house-proud in a recently built suburb, with sufficient time and money to take his family on an annual holiday by the coast.
For the fortnight itself, the family stay loyal to the ageing landlady of a fading guest house, on a street set back from the sea. They eagerly anticipate the healthy colour they will achieve after a few days spent in the sun and the sea air. But that's only part of it. They are here for the bathing and joining the crowds on seaside walks along the prom. They watch the Pierrots and the minstrels. They listen to the military band.
Throughout the pages, however, we pick up that Bognor is changing, as is the countryside about. The fields just outside the town, where Mr Stevens used to take his country walks, are now turning into building sites. (But he can now take the bus further out, to the South Downs). The low point of their holiday is the reluctant visit they make for tea in the newly built villa of an important customer of Mr Stevens' firm. The family observe its sterile, bare garden, its opulent, joyless rooms. And the disdain of the customer's wife for holiday makers in general and the activities they get up to.
None of this dry observation above explains the appeal of the book to the many who have read it. It was a bestseller on publication. It remains popular to this day. It's something about the honest decency of the Stevens family I think. The achievement of the writing is to make us really care whether the holiday works out for them.
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