Say cheese! We're off on a day trip

Number 37 ‘red general’ buses ran from outside The Northumberland Arms, Lower to south east London from 1912. During WWII they ran on gas carried in balloons on the top decks.

For day to day transport, getting to school, work and shops, our ancestors relied on walking, cycling or public transport.

Tradesmen and the more affluent might use horse drawn vehicles but motorised transport was a luxury few could afford for business purposes let alone for leisure.

With paid time off work limited to a couple of weeks per year, family holidays tended to be one or two weeks in the summer, spent at a British coastal resort; the journey to the resort, whether by coach or more often, train, being sufficiently out of the ordinary as to be part of the adventure for the children - though no doubt less so for harassed parents.

For some, seasonal work in the countryside, for example, Eastenders going hop picking in Kent, offered an escape from day to day life. While not being a holiday as such, it proved that a change is as good as a rest.

In industrial areas whole towns would close down their machinery, though workers might be expected to make up the time before or after.

Few working class people were able to travel abroad regularly before the era of package holidays came in during the 1960s, then generally limited to European travel.

Long haul journeys were out of the question since crossing the oceans, Atlantic, India or Pacific, was still largely restricted to ocean going liners which were both time consuming and expensive.

Travelling for longer than a couple of weeks would have been very unusual and a gap year spent travelling unthinkable both in terms of cost and time.

One might compare today’s gap year student with the 18th century gentleman enjoying the grand tour though the grand tour was confined to Europe, limited by cost to members of the gentry and socially restricted to men - women travelling without a male relative as escort would have been unthinkable.

Children who were members of the uniformed organisations, Scouts, Girl guides, Boys Brigade, might be lucky enough to go for a week’s camp during the school holidays. It was one of the attractions of joining.

it was common for transport to the camp to be provided in the form of a lorry borrowed from a local company, with passengers sitting on bench seats in the back alongside their camping gear - no mini buses or safety belts then.

Anyone feeling travel sick would be moved nearer to the open back of the lorry - with a zinc bucket close at hand.

For most people, outside the annual holiday, travel was restricted to the occasional day trips which were more affordable both in terms of time and money.

Since leisure travel was less readily available these were all the more appreciated and eagerly looked forward to.

Pennies and sixpences would be saved up for weeks, both to pay for the trip and for souvenirs for friends and family.

Various annual outings would be organised by local churches, separate outings for choir, Sunday school, mothers union etc, sometimes paid for by subscription of the more more affluent members as a reward for attendance and sometimes paid for by the trippers themselves.

Some companies had annual outings for their employees and their families (think of the film Carry On at Your Convenience), while pubs and clubs like the local British Legion ran trips for their own customers/members.

There are many stories of people moving on to a different church group or club depending on how the good the annual outings were.

Typically, outings would be held on a Saturday or bank holiday (established in 1871) when there were fewer work commitments. Those going would meet at the pick up point early, wearing their Sunday best.

Often a photograph would be taken of the group posing in front of the coach, or in earlier times, an open topped hard seated char-a-banc, an indication of how special these outings were considered.

At their destination children’s groups might have organised games and a tea provided while adults would be left to their own devices.

The return journey might include community singing - depending on the group and amount of alcohol consumed - and a late return home, with the Sunday following to recover before work.

The late Pat Birch’s aunt, Miss Beatie Jelly, recalled a Band of Hope (temperance group) outing from Isleworth Congregational Church to Box Hill with members enjoying games and races with prizes. Each time the brake passed a public house, everyone sang (to the tune of For He’s A Jolly Good Fellow: ‘Shut up your public houses, We’re all teetotallers here, We don’t want none of your beer/Shut up your public houses/We’re all teetotallers here.

It is perhaps worth mentioning that Thomas Cook the travel company was founded to organise temperance outings.

Trains offered the scope for longer journeys taking bigger parties, either using time- tabled services or privately hiring a train and driver for the day as an excursion special; something that survives in the football specials taking groups of fans to away matches.

Locally, with Isleworth’s position near to the Thames, day trips on the river were a popular alternative form of outing, with paddle steamers operating from nearby Richmond and Kew.

Kevin Brown, Sundial, Isleworth Parish Magazine