MERRY ENGLAND

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIV, 6 August 1931, Page 7

MERRY ENGLAND

AUGUST BANK HOLIDAY

BEACHES THItONGED

HEAVY ROAD TRAFFIC (British Official Wiroless) RUGBY, 4th August. Finn weather prevailed yesterday over a great part of England, and very large August Bank Holiday crowds thronged the. beaches and seaside places. Riverside resorts proved popular, and heaths, downs and public parks around London were in the possession of picnic parties Road traffic was exceptionally heavy, but there was a remarkable absence of serious accidents, due. it is believed, to the desire shown by (ho drivers of motor cars and coaches to observe the social and moral obligations suggested in the Ministry of Transport’s highway code Railway traffic was also heavy, a largo number of special trains being run to Sussex and Kent resorts from London, while. Southend, where it is slated that 6000 slept on the beach on Sunday night, experienced the usual invasion. A total of 110 holidaymakers’ trains arrived in Blackpool during the. day. Several bathing fatalities are reported, including the drowning of throe members of one family at Wittering, near tho Isle of Wight. Yesterday was the 60lh anniversary of the institution of August Bank Holiday, which was first observed in 1871 after the passing of the Act in that year. CROWDS CAUGHT IN THUNDERSTORM The end of tho Bank Holiday weekend coincided with a severo thunderstorm which broke over London and the south-eastern counties last night, and crowds returning late were drenched bv heavy rain. High seas in tho Channel and the Thames estuary buffeted pleasure steamers, delaying some for lour or five hours. The crossing from France was declared to lie the worst this summer. Tho storm was followed today by a thick fog over the sea, m which an oil tanker of 6000 tons went ashore near Dungoness, but was refloated this afternoon, and all shipping was slowed down.