Turnstone: Hunstanton writer John Maiden discusses beach erosion, ‘sea fever’ and water privatisation

In his weekly column, Hunstanton writer John Maiden discusses changes he’s noticed at the town’s beach recently…

John Masefield summed up my feelings for Hunstanton and the North Norfolk coast in his poem entitled 'Sea Fever' when he wrote: "I must go down to the sea again, the lonely sea and the sky..."

One of my earliest memories is of being on a walk with my family beyond the lighthouse, and seeing just how dangerous the sea can look when backed up by a northerly wind.

Fast forward to when I was nearly 17 and my decision to give up working at James Lambert & Sons, Grocers and Wine Merchants, which was only a few yards down Westgate from the family home at Portland House.

The intention was to enrol on a 12-week course at a Merchant Navy training college near Bristol. When I got there, it reminded me too much of the five terms I had spent at Wymondham College, but I was prepared to stick it out if it prepared me for a life at sea.

However, towards the end of the first week, my intake was given the chance to give it up if we had any doubts.

The chap next to me in the line-up was a 'Teddy Boy' from Liverpool who used to carry a cosh, until his mother burnt it!

His father was in the Merchant Navy, so when he decided to head for home along with a handful of other landlubbers, I jumped ship with them and set a course for home.

A year later, I made my first excursion across to the North Sea for a winter sports holiday in Norway, and was seasick all the way there, which made me very glad that I was a passenger rather than a member of the crew.

The reason I could afford such a super break was because I had been employed as a teaboy, then a labourer, by R Robinson & Co of Westminster, the contractors appointed to construct the new north promenade and sea wall in 1955-56.

Seventy years later, whenever I get an attack of 'sea fever', all I have to do is take a 10-minute stroll from the Redgate Estate to the promenade that I helped to build back in the 1950s.

If the tide is in, I can enjoy the sea spray on my face, while praying there is not too much raw sewage in each helping.

If the tide is far enough away from the sea wall, as it was last week, I can see how much beach has disappeared since my last visit.

To support my claim that the removal of groynes is doing nothing to reduce the loss of sand, our daughter Caroline Allan was kept busy taking photos on her mobile phone.

If by chance she managed to catch a shot of me, I want to make it clear that I was clad in leisure wear, not nightwear.

With regard to my flippant remark about raw sewage finding its way into the sea, I must congratulate Clive Lewis, Labour MP for Norwich South, for supporting the campaign to bring responsibility for water back into public ownership.

Privatisation has not been good for our health, or for the health of our rivers and seas.