Postcards captured Scarborough holidays of past

Bridlington man Mat Smith unearthed the long-forgotten snaps of his courting grandparents, Walter Jackson and Maud Enderson.

The postcards were produced by Scarborough’s North Bay Snaps Limited.

The company’s roaming photographers captured “walking pictures” of tourists, usually around the north end of Royal Albert Drive, and turned them into postcards to send away to loved ones.

Tucked away in the home of Mat’s mum, Beryl, the postcards show the Nottingham couple enjoying an unknown stretch of the beach in 1933.

Web designer Mat, 42, said: “The pictures were stored for many years and when my grandad moved out of the house, my parents found amazing stuff they had never seen before. It was a real treasure trove when they cleared his house.

“My grandad was a really snappy dresser. Sitting on the beach with a suit on is a bit unusual these days!”

The couple enjoyed frequent visits to Scarborough with Maud’s family during the early years of their relationship.

“They were courting so he used to go away with them, but then men would have one room and the women would have another,” said Mat, of Hermitage Road.

He added that the cohort would probably have travelled to East Yorkshire by bus.

“A lot of people didn’t have holidays because they couldn’t afford them,” Mat said. “Travelling from Nottingham to Scarborough would’ve been a bit of an issue.”

Mat said that although a ‘vintage’ look photograph can be mocked up using computer software now, you can tell the snaps of his grandparents are authentic products of a different time.

Aged 24 and 18 at the time of the photographs, the pair married four years later – and stayed together until Walter’s death in his mid-90s.

“They were great people,” said Mat. “Loving, really family-oriented people.”