Where the Wild Things Were

The day dawned fine if not a little cold for our final memory walk at Skinningrove.  After remembering what an industrial environment Skinningrove would have been in the 40’s and 50’s with the mine still operating and the iron works at the top of the cliffs, we set off to explore the recently renovated jetty.  We listened to memories of how good the fishing was immediately after the war, how swimming off the beach was made more pleasant from the hot water pumped into the sea from the iron works, the amazing sight of a giant washed up whale and how playing in the sand dunes ran the risk of having hot slag tipped on you from the cliffs.   We listened to how boys risked their lives gathering sea bird eggs from the cliffs, chased their sisters with slow worms and what it was like to sleep 11 to a bedroom.  Participants were quizzed on their knowledge of local dialect names for animals including mowdies, charlies and frenchies. We ended at the sea caves looking for otter tracks and discovering that children would steal gunpowder from the mines to try and blast deeper tunnels in the cliffs.  A great way to end the memory walks.   Photos by Margeret Perkins