Me with Mum & Dad
On the Log Flume
At Palmers' Crazy Golf
Me in Haven
Home from Home
By Katy Healey
I am 22 years old and I consider Great Yarmouth my home. My great grandparents and grandparents went every single year without fail. When my grandparents had my dad he grew up in Great Yarmouth, went on holiday there every year. I have old black and white pictures of them at Seashore holiday camp.
My dad grew up and meet my mum and they had their honeymoon there. It became their special place. They called it home even though we lived in Warwickshire. They had my older brother and sister and they went there also every year until they were teens.
When I was born, they did the same with me. I have tons of photos of me on the beach as a baby, and even more growing up.
My brother Chris and Sister Rachel, weren't that bothered when they entered their teens about Yarmouth. They got partners and explored the world, went abroad but me... I’ve never wanted to be anywhere else.
I've gone there every year for the past 22 years and I still would go nowhere else. I love it, i know it like the back of my hand. I could stand on the jetty for hours watching the ships in the distance, listening to the waves.....Every year we would go to the Hamburger for breakfast or Charlie’s Chips for dinner.... I remember it all so well.
My Dad died when I was 9, but me and mum continued to go. I carried "the tradition" on my mum said. My Mum got very ill over the years which affected her breathing so she couldn’t walk very far and got out of breath. This made walking around Yarmouth very hard but she didn’t mind, she just loved being there and so did I. She loved sitting by the benches by the Pier by Joyland, watching the world go by... Me, well I was a child and wanted to be on the move... it was only when I got older, i appreciated just sitting there, peacefully.
Mum had to have a oxygen tank with all the time and she couldn't take them on the coaches or trains and we didn’t drive. This meant mum couldn’t get there so when I turned 15/16 that was our last holiday together. My brother could drive, it only took four hours to get there, but no... he wouldn’t take her. For a few years we had no holiday, had to contend with looking at the brochures and past holiday photos, hoping one day we could go again. Mum knew her illness would get worse and that one day she wouldn't be able to walk anywhere. She wanted one last holiday walking along the seafront like she had been doing for many years.... it wasn’t to be.
I turned 18 and I went to Yarmouth by myself.... I cried leaving mum at home, I knew she must of been hurting but she told me to go.... it was important to her that she memory of Yarmouth lived on.
It was weird being there on my own but everywhere I went I could think of a memory of my family. Where we had had pictures taken, the rides we went on, the miles we walked up and down the seafront, I felt home, and I felt near dad.
The following year I went again and again the next.... However in 2007 my mum died on Xmas Eve of Cancer. It was all very sudden and she never did get her last holiday...... It took me a long time to function normally as my brother and sister blamed me for her death, I didn't do enough to help her, so I haven’t spoken to them since.
All by myself, I carried on as best as I could, in pieces but somehow getting through each day.... In 2008 I Went as a tribute to mum. It was a different feeling as now I knew I defo would not get to be here again with my family. I didn't do much in the terms of activities, more of a trip down memory lane.
In 2009 I went there with my friends, it was nice to have company but it wasn’t the same ... they didn’t appreciate the specialness of the place. I could sit on the beach in the evening for hours, watching the sun set, watching the lights come on etc...
People said to me, I was brave going there on my own... I say, no I wasn't, I was going home.
This year I live with my boyfriend and we couldn't afford to go. I long to be there again. I look at photos, webcams of Yarmouth every day and I hope to move there.