The other day I was taking a stroll along Bournemouth sea front with my Olympus OM2n. Just for fun, I do this a handful of times a year. I came across a beach hut with a blue plaque. Perhaps I should explain that in the UK these are placed to mark an important occupant, building or event – for example there is one Hampstead, London that reads “Jim Henson Creator of the Muppets Lived Here” lesser mortals like Isaac Newton and Charles Dickens have them too. The one on a beach hut in Bournemouth reads “Bournemouth Beach Bungalow, constructed in 1909. First Municipal Beach Hut in the UK. Designed and built under the guidance of Frederick Percy Dolomore, 1869-1951”. Apparently Fred was a Fellow of the Royal Sanitary Society.
Apparently there are plans to demolish it! Admittedly it could do with a bit of care, but demolishing something that you’ve bothered to put a blue plaque on seems a bit stupid. Rather like declaring a piece of ancient woodland a “sight of scientific importance” and then destroying it to build a rail track! Still there are loads of other plastic huts all identical and without character, rather like large portaloo’s. Me cynical? Surly not!
S.H.O.U.T. 