Turnstone Column: John Maiden shares winter memories spent on Hunstanton’s boating lake

In his weekly Turnstone column, Hunstanton writer John Maiden shares winter memories on the town’s former boating lake…

A few days ago I was walking along the road that runs between the back gardens of cottages in Seagate Road and what used to be Hunstanton's fantastic boating lake, which opened in 1932 and coincided with an extension to the South Promenade.

A local historian, the late Mary Rhodes recalled in her book, "A Hunstanton Miscellany" how, before the boating lake, there was just grass and sand dunes between the back gardens of Seagate Road and the beach.

The first thing that struck me was the shabby appearance of the rear-facing walls of the lake's art deco shelters, from which people used to enjoy views of the sea as well as boating on the lake.

Oddly enough my earliest memory of the lake was in the early years of World War Two, when the water became ice - thick enough to take the weight of skaters making the most of a bitterly cold winter.

If this was in February 1940, it probably explains why I still remember an accomplished skater carrying me around the lake in his arms.

My memory for names does not match my memory of events, but the name Malcolm Youngs is linked to this event, together with his reputation for speed skating in the Fens, although the village of Ringstead is also associated with the man who taught me to make the most of ice and snow.

Little wonder therefore that I recognised the threat of global warming long before it became widely accepted.

Fast forward a few years and, while still wearing short trousers, I learned to paddle my own canoe, because the blisters on my hands from moving at a snail's pace around the lake in a paddle boat made no sense to me. However, the best was yet to come.

The long hot summer of 1959 came at just the right time, because with National Service in the RAF behind me and time to kill, before embarking on three years of Teacher Training, I was employed by the Urban District Council, with most of my working hours spent at the boating lake.

For the next decade, my work prevented me from spending much time in the town that meant so much to me.

It still does, but it is not the town it was when it boasted a railway, swimming pool and boating lake.

Of course, a pier would be nice, but only if its design protected or enhanced the character and appearance of the Conservation Area.

It took longer than it should have done for the borough council to confirm the fact that the building currently purporting to be 'Hunstanton Pier' is actually breaching enforcible covenants, deeds, bylaws and planning regulations intended to protect and enhance the character and appearance of The Green and promenade.

This might seem like a bad time to be looking for some serious money to spend on restoring our town to its former glory, but both the swimming pool and boating lake were created at a time of economic recession.

The need for Hunstanton to be reconnected to the national rail network was brought home to me last Thursday.

When our daughter Caroline's journey back to Muscat in Oman, had to begin with nearly an hour spent on a bus travelling the first 16 miles, from Hunstanton to Lynn.