The poem and photographs are about landscape and loss; the slow erosion of land, custom and memory. They are about distance and proximity, ages past and yet still present in the reaches of our memories.
The east coast of England between the Humber and Bridlington Bay is eroding faster than any other section of the British coastline. Cliffs, houses and roads are slipping into the North Sea as the world warms and the oceans rise.
Once upon a time the seaside towns and beaches were crowded with holiday makers and day trippers and as a child whose grandparents lived in Bridlington, some of my happiest memories are of time spent there.
When I returned many years later to care for a mother suffering from dementia, I found myself walking almost alone on once crowded promenades and beaches. As my mother’s memories became confused, I started to dig deep into my own in an attempt to recover and preserve something of those now distant times.
This landscape shaped and changed me just as I, by
my presence, may make some small change in it. Tide
and time have swept much away but there remains an
abiding and deep connection to these windswept
beaches and seaside towns.
