When Clacton was born Jaywick Sands followed close behind. The railway attracted Londoners to the seaside at Clacton on sea. However, Jaywick Sands had the better beaches with very large beaches of golden sands. When the foundation for Brooklands was laid out the seawall was moved closer to the sea.

The old seawall can still be seen at the end of the Avenues. The land from the old seawall to the seawall on the beach was reclaimed land.

All of Jaywick’s roads were built with golden sand from the beach. The concrete under the tarmacked roads have seashells in it.

At the far end of Brooklands down by the big slope there was an amusement arcade; the Casino, it had a large roller-skating rink which was still used in the 1960’s. Other showmen would put their rides on the land close by. At the beginning of Brooklands by the hump, there was another big amusement arcade; the Palladium. Here there was a dodgem track that was inside a permanent brick-built building, there were also other rides; a boating lake with 8 motorised boats that were all painted two-tone in colour. People could hire the boats and drive them on their own or with a passenger.

There was a pier that had to be blown-up during WWII. Across the road there was a miniature railway station for people to go for a ride on a small train what went along the top of an old sea defence. The railway lines went from the station to a big mound at Crossways where the train was locked up each night. The train could carry a number of people to crossways and back it was a very popular attraction.

The properties were second homes for Londoners who would come and stay at Jaywick Sands. Some would stay for months others would arrive for weekends. Nearly all of the owners left a key with a builder for any instructions for work they wanted carried out in the winter months.

The Tudor House was taken down in Billericay and rebuilt on land that is now known as the Tudor Estate. My grandfather W.A. Salmon (Bill) was a master builder he moved from West View, Upper Forth Avenue, Frinton to rebuild the Tudor house. His idea was to teach his seven sons a trade so they could always get a living. Bill owned all the corn-fields around the Tudor House. It was the first house in Essex to have a swimming pool which has to be filled in during WWII. My grandmother, Rose left a tea-towel on the line on the night when there was a bright moon, a German fighter thought the reflection was a light in a window and it riddled the tea-towel with bullet holes.

During WWII ‘The Green’ was taken over by American Gunners, they built really thick concrete bomb shelters in the centre. They had massive Ack-Ack guns and searchlights. They fired their guns lots of times, the searchlights lit up the sky with their fingers of light pointing where the planes that would come to bomb us were. The Americans were always kind and offered us chewing gum. Today ‘The Green’ has property built all over it. I was told the concrete air raid shelters would have cost too much to take out so the builders put a thick layer of earth over the top of them.

Different families owned the businesses, Stedman was the Estate Agents, Dots owned most of the shops, Flaunty owned properties, Silver owned the big Morocco Club and arcades. W.A.Salmon and sons was the biggest builder.

When I left school at 15 years of age I worked as a carpenter-joiner for W.A.Salmon and Sons. Our joinery shop was in the old blacksmiths forge on the corner of Crossways and Meadow Way, our builder’s yard was across the road, behind our yards was Snell and Sons yard.

There used to be a roundabout where Crossways and Meadow Way meet, in the centre of the roundabout was a wishing well.