After 50 years, I’m back in Withernsea, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, fictionalised as Holdersea in my novel, One Scheme of Happiness. It’s so rooted in my imagination it’s been like going to Narnia.
So much has stayed the same and is very familiar, but much has changed – in the 1960s the lighthouse beam used to sweep through my childhood bedroom in Arthur Street; now the lighthouse is a museum, dedicated to sea rescues and disasters, and to the film star Kay Kendall, who was born in Withernsea.
This coast is one of the worst in Europe for erosion – wooden groynes have been here for decades to reduce the long shore drift, but now, with EU funding, the land is protected by tonnes of Norwegian stone. #Withernsearocks
One of the biggest changes is out at sea – two huge wind farms generating clean energy, with more projects recently approved by the government: Hornsea 3 and 4. Beautiful and green.
For my childhood self, the most tragic loss is the shop selling rock, fudge and sweets… Rock Bob was an icon. Where do children get their “goodies” from now?
At 90, Mum still remembers how, when we moved here from Northumberland, the removal men laughed when she told them to turn right at the lighthouse. The land is so easily eroded the lighthouse was built in the town.
We only lived here for four years but it still obsesses me and my writing, both fiction and poetry.
Ali Thurm 