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Bringing
you the news year after year
The Skegness Standard
was first published on Wednesday, July 5, 1922, from a premises in Lumley
Road.
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A
brief history of tourism
The
Skegness area has been occupied since Roman times.
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Find
out about the Fisherman
The Jolly Fisherman,
with his sou'wester, gum boots and broad smile, has become synonymous
with Skegness.
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Paddle
boats and a pier to be proud of
Skegness’ most famous
feature is undoubtedly its pier, which is one of only 50 remaining in
the UK.
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Billy
Butlin - funfairs and fame
William Heygate Colbourne
Butlin was born in Cape Town, South Africa on 29th September 1899 to William,
the son of a clergyman, and Bertha, the daughter of a small town baker
who had become a travelling showman.
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Carry
on camping
Billy Butlin, a travelling
fairground worker from Canada, set up his first holiday camp at Skegness
in 1936 having identified a need for all-weather recreation for holiday-makers.
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80
years of Skegness yesterdays
After the foreshore became the property of Skegness Urban District Council
in 1922, the local authority quickly went ahead with developing it.
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Flying
bombs and wartime rations
By 1939 the nation seemed to have almost recovered from the
Wall Street disaster of 10 years earlier, and then Hitler marched into
Poland and Europe was aflame again.
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The
ups and downs of life in a grand old English seaside town
As at the end of the Great War 1914-18, the aftermath of the
Second World War found Britain with a huge housing shortage and local
authorities’ first priority was solving that crisis.
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 The
Jolly Fisherman, with his sou'wester, gum boots and broad smile, has become
synonymous with Skegness.
Originally painted by John Hassall in 1908, the Great Northern Railway
Company paid 12 guineas to use the image on one of its posters, alongside
the slogan "Skegness is so bracing". The result was probably one of the
most famous holiday advertising campaigns ever conceived.
The poster was first put on display in the spring of 1908 in conjunction
with a special three-shilling excursion from Kings Cross, and in 1933
the original image was changed to include Skegness pier in the background.
Born in Deal, as a young man Hassall tried to join the army twice without
success. In frustration he went to Canada, where he turned his hand to
sketching. On returning to Europe he went to Paris and then Antwerp to
study art, and the first pictures he sent to the Royal Academy were accepted.
Hassall visited Skegness just once in his lifetime. That was in 1936 when
he was presented with an illuminated address and the freedom of the Skegness
foreshore. He wasn’t disappointed with Skegness, saying: “The reality
of Skegness has eclipsed all my anticipations. It is even more bracing
and attractive than I had been led to expect”.
Although one of the most prolific poster artists of his time, Hassall
died in 1948, eighty years old and penniless.
Hassall’s original masterpiece hangs in a place of honour in Skegness
Town Hall. It was presented to the town by British Railways, along with
the copyright in 1966. The original artwork for the second poster, which
depicted the pier, was found in a shed in Essex in 1995 and sold at auction
for just under £6,000.
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