Around Quedgeley with Alice Tapp

By AliceTapp | Wednesday, August 26, 2009, 20:32

Hurtling down the M5 (within the legal speed limit, of course), a convoy of Quedgeley mums headed for Weston-super-Mare earlier this week.

Amidst excited cries of “I can see the sea!” someone noticed that the tide was actually in. And so was the rain.

Undeterred, six mums and twelve children, ranging in age from two to 17 (the children, not the mums) headed for the nearest café to drink tea and eat cake until the weather decided to behave itself.

Eventually the sun came out and with whoops of joy, everyone headed for the beach. While the youngest children squelched around in the rather sodden sand, the older ones set off on the epic voyage to the edge of sea, which by now was in its customary position way, way out.

As the donkeys patiently trotted up and down against the backdrop of the burnt-out pier, I recalled stories from senior Quedgeley residents telling of their excitement over the annual outing to this very same beach when they were small children fifty or sixty years earlier.

My own, increasingly distant, childhood featured regular jaunts with my older sister and grandparents to Weston, parking on the beach and laying out the old green travel rug on the sand.

Will my children have the same fond memories? Will they bring their children to the resurrected pier and to ride on the next generation of donkeys? Have we really abandoned the simple joys in life as some doom-mongers would have us believe?

My philosophical reverie was interrupted. “Here, do you want an egg sandwich?” Well, of course, as long as it contains the obligatory sand.