100 Years of Collecting - A Trip to the Seaside

We're celebrating our centenary year throughout 2023 with new displays, digital content and events. 

As part of the celebrations, we created an interactive online exhibition starring 100 objects that represent our 100 Years of Collecting.

Each month, we’ll be looking at some of the objects in more detail and sharing other treasures from the collection in special themed blog posts.

It's been a bit of a dreary August - so we're taking you on a virtual trip to the seaside through our collection!

Mr Punch Glove Puppet

This little fellow is full of nostalgia for many local people!

He's part of a mid-20th century Punch and Judy puppet set that belonged to Featherstone legend, Albert Massey.

Albert was a surface worker with the coal board. In his spare time he often performed Punch and Judy puppet shows.

Albert Massey in the 1960s

Albert’s puppets and props were donated to the museum collection in the 1980s. The Mr Punch puppet representing Albert's story is one of our 100 Years of Collecting star objects.

As well as Punch and Judy themselves, the set also includes several of Mr Punch’s various enemies - the Policeman, the clown and the crocodile - who all often found themselves at the wrong end of Punch’s stick.

Albert performed in local venues such as Pontefract Park - but Punch and Judy shows will always be associated with the golden age of the British seaside holiday. 

Seaside Holidays

From the Victorian era onwards, red and white striped puppet show booths popped up on beaches and piers up and down the country. 

Here's a group of holidaymakers and daytrippers being entertained by a puppet show at Scarborough beach in the 1950s:

Some of these children look like they're enjoying the show more than others...

This photo is one of many captured by another local legend, Jack Hulme from Fryston. 

Hulme was a former colliery worker and hairdresser, and became an enthusiastic amateur photographer. He mostly photographed scenes from everyday life in Fryston and created an extraordinary record of industrial Yorkshire. 

Hulme’s charming action shot of a boy jumping over a makeshift hurdle is another of our 100 Years of Collecting star objects:

By the mid 20^th century, more people than ever before were heading to the coast. 

Public holidays and paid annual leave meant workers and their families could afford to take a seaside break. 

Employers and community groups often organised special excursions and laid on transport to the beach, such as these trips from Fryston. 

Jack Hulme joined them, and of course captured the trips in his photos:

The Fryston daytrippers - with 3 of the 10 buses they travelled over on in the background!

Rail companies also arranged extra services to seaside destinations during the summer. 

This posters advertising train times from Pontefract to the east coast was produced by Holmes Printers in Pontefract, for the Prince of Wales Colliery. 

Coal miners and their families packed onto the trains, ready for a day out with their buckets and spades.

Seaside souvenirs

No trip to the seaside would be complete without picking up a souvenir or two!

Ironically, these mementos of the east coast were actually made back over here, in Knottingley, by Bagley & Co Ltd: 

Bagley’s started as a bottle factory but became known for its innovative decorative coloured glass in the 1930s. 

The company’s iconic Andromeda bowl design also features in our 100 Years of Collecting:

What objects, photos or memories do you have of seaside trips from yesteryear? We'd love to hear from you!

Post in the comments, or email us at museums@wakfield.gov.uk. 

Click here for more on our 100 Years of Collecting project