The staycation’s origins date back to the war Nostalgia
PERHAPS the worst thing about not being able to go abroad for a holiday this year is that the word “staycation” has entered the language. That said, there’s nothing new in the idea.
“Holidays at Home” was the slogan used in the Second World War, an event which had taken the shine off taking a break in Mussolini’s Italy, Hitler’s Germany, or Nazi-occupied France.
Other impediments included families being split up because Mum, Dad, or both had been called up and their children had been evacuated to rural parts.
Not many people had a car, but even those who did couldn’t get petrol. Driving for leisure was out of the question and anyway, all the road signs were removed to confuse invaders. If you started asking anyone for directions you were likely to be hauled in as a suspected spy.
People were told not to travel by train unless they had to in the early years of the war to save on fuel and to make sure there were enough seats for the troops heading for their postings. Restrictions on rail travel were stepped up later in the war in an effort to take pressure off the rail network while preparations for the D-day invasion were underway.
So in 1942 the government launched its Holidays at Home initiative. Towns and cities were urged to arrange merrymaking events, such as open air concerts, dances, children’s games and sports days that would be so attractive that nobody would need to go away for a break.
Surprisingly perhaps, the public response to Holidays at Home was enthusiastic.
And one of its lasting legacies was Gloucester Festival, which grew in scale in the post war years to become a major event in the city’s calendar each August.
At its peak in the 1950s and especially ‘60s local community groups and companies vied with each other to produce the best festival float.
Some of the entries were remarkably lavish. One year the Co-op produced a replica of the Sphinx which trundled elegantly through the city centre on a lorry of the society’s fleet. The Bon Marche always devised an equally elaborate display.
In the mid ‘60s when open air pop concerts were all the rage, Gloucester Festival featured a Bands in the Park competition.
For generations of Tewkesbury children, hot days during the long Summer holiday were spent swimming in the Severn or the Avon. Upper Lode lock was a favourite spot until the backwater was rented to the Edgebaston Angling Club and swimmers were promptly banned.
To make amends, the borough council designated disused sand pits across the Ham a public swimming area and provided changing huts, a raft and diving board.
Tewkesbury Swimming Club used to meet at Stanchard Pit on the Avon, where adventurous types would dive off the iron road bridge near Bathurst’s boatyard.
But for those who fancied a day out, Wainlodes was the resort to head for. On bank holidays, families would set out from Tewkesbury on bicycles, crammed into a chugging Austin Seven or Morris Eight, to stretch out on the sweeping bank of the Severn, paddle in the river and probably enjoy a pint from the nearby Red Lion.
Photographs taken at the time show thousands gathered on the bank at Wainlodes, packed shoulder to shoulder in deckchairs, jostling for a patch to pitch a towel and stretch out. This bend of the Severn is, and always has been a dangerous place to swim, not least because of the sunken barges.
These were scuppered in the river on the Red Lion side in an attempt to slow erosion and when the water is especially low the ribs of these vessels can be seen to this day.
Despite the dangers, hundreds of people used to swim at Wainlodes and continued to do so until Tewkesbury’s first public swimming pool opened in 1957 on the site of the former cattle market.