Thorney Bay Beach Camp

My 1970's memories

We spent many summer holidays at Thorney Bay during the 1970’s and had such great happy times. Me and my older brother and little sister used to get up early and head over to the camp shop with our 10p and come back to our caravan with a big bag of sweets and plan our day. We used take the long walk along the sea wall to the funfair, Loved the Twister, Spooky Ally, and the Helter Skelter with the big bowl at the bottom, playing on the penny machines whilst mum and dad played prize bingo. We used to love watching the ships passing by and collecting Cockles. Me and my brother loved exploring the WW2 pill boxes. No plumbing in them days we had to carry the water carrier from the tap to the caravan and use the toilet blocks to wash. We had to wait until 18:00 for the electric to come on. During the night we used to lay in bed listening to the ships chugging by. GREAT MEMORIES! I have upload a few pictures of the 70’s. I do regulary visit Canvey island with my kids……..

Comments about this page

  • My nan had a caravan there for 40 years, field 14 caravan number 1. Loved my holidays there.

    By David Postlethwaite (14/04/2022)
  • Great memories. My nan and grandad also had caravans for about 50 years at Canvey. My brother and myself spent many years there in the 70s and 80s. We have so many pictures and video. Miss those days and my grandparents Kit and Tom.

    By Tammy weeks (15/02/2023)
  • We would love to see some Tammy. Why not upload some to the archive.

    By Janet Penn (15/02/2023)
  • Brilliant memories… both sets of my grandparents and other close family members had caravans there from the 1960s until early 2000s . Both were on either side of the main road, the “taps” were just outside my nans caravan and the toilet block was almost opposite. I spent spent much of my childhood from the early 70s there. Riding my bike around Canvey. Such a safe place then. Watching the ships go by from the main road, they looked so close … Still can’t get my head around how that worked when they were so far away! … riding my bike along the sea wall towards the oil refineries.. swimming in the sea, hobbling down the steep tar covered rocks …. bathing in their dark green 1950s chalet type bathrooms, where you popped 2p in the little machine for hot water … looking back they were grim lol … My first kiss was sitting on the seats outside the big round cafe which had already been closed for years. Sadly a heart attack took one of my grand Jim there in 1982, putting new slabs around the caravan, at least he died in the place he loved so much. I did visit again about 5 years ago, all the old “vans” gone .. the fields where my family had theirs, all gone. Was a nightmare to get in. Security stopped me from taking photographs, they were building what looked like very posh log type cabins there. So many beautiful memories gone .. but things move on I guess. Best time of my life …. Thorney Bay Beach camp đź’•

    By Kerry Prentice (15/10/2023)

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