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To catalogue, preserve and research the history of Duxford.

Our next speaker on 21st May will be Tony Kirby . This illustrated talk starts with the early history of the seaside holiday, when it was the preserve of the leisured and wealthy and at least initially for the supposed health benefits of sea water and sea air. The coming of the railways led to the emergence of a mass market for holidays (or at least day trips) between 1850 and 1914, and the rise of new resorts, for example Cromer and Hunstanton, to join the established ones such as Scarborough and Great Yarmouth. Between the wars, the rise of road transport broadened the market further, a pattern that continued until the rise of the package tour industry in the 1960s.

We shall look at the physical legacy of buildings that resulted: hotels, esplanades, piers, places of entertainment and the like, at how resorts advertised themselves in an increasingly competitive market, particularly in the inter-war years, and the problems they have faced in the past 50 years.