1.

Travel advertisements have always been presented in an enticing and

seemingly extravagant manner. It is quite true that they, especially the
more ornate and artistic pieces, can spark a desire to break away from the
many tribulations of everyday life. From composition, colours, icons and
even typefaces, their allure and meaning is dependent on the attitudes and
values represented both visually and implicity.
It was, under the marvelously decorated Victorian canopy, a poster
just to the left of the stationmasters door that caught my attention. The
image, undoubtedly iconic in my mind, was one of those classic travel
posters from the 1950s, very neatly presented and quite authentic in its
presentation and placement there. The title immediately struck me as bold,
and it was my first instinct to read what it said, Blackpool, the colour
was of a sea water tone,it was a very typical poster and almost seemed
superficial.
While indeed I had seen such examples on many occasions before as
a child, it was only now, as I visited the heritage railway at Swanage in
south Dorset, that I was able to gaze and examine the poster up close. My
fascination could be confused, by an onlooker, with that of an art director
inspecting his entries in a gallery or museum. This struck me, and I then
realized that, by definiton, the heritage railway was a museum of sorts,
and that this poster was, to some, and artwork.
Far from the modern day high cost, high productions holiday
commercials, of which we have all cringed at one point or another, lied
the simpler and now somewhat romantic era of railway travel and
getaways. Tracing their early beginnings in the late 19 th century, lucrative
railway companies were eager to capitalise on their capacity to move
people efficiently. As the expansion of the British Railways network
progressed at an unprecedented rate, a plethora of new travel destinations
and possibilities arised, connecting the nation in a way nobody could
have envisaged just 50 years prior. A day trip to the seaside was a
revelation in the early days, famous resort towns: Great Yarmouth,
Penzance, Dover, Hull, Scarborough and of course Blackpool, were all
serviced by creatively named direct trains such as the Cornish Riviera
Express. Few other things epitomise the Victorian and Edwardian era so
well, a weekend at the seaside became a national tradition, highlight of
the year in fact.
My fascination with the poster continued as I took a photo with my
pocket camera. The smiles of the children providing me with many
reminders of my own childhood, my innocent outlook on life had
remerged from the past. Staring closely at the child, at his eyes, I
imagined for a second, it was me there, not literally but in emotion. Very
strangely, for a second, I had an intense urge to travel to the seaside
immediately. The colour of the sand, the sky, even the daft Blackpool
tower seemed comforting to me. It was then I realized, unfortunately, that
my 46 year old body was maybe not at the least in shape for such a trip,
and the emotion vanished into the air like that.
The post war policies of the conservative government meant that,
after almost 20 years of underinvestment and consolidation, the entire
railway network, including the many railway companies were
incorporated into a single entity, such it was named, in 1955, British
Railways. Heralding a new era of investment in all modes of transport
was, indeed changing travel forever. The motor vehicle and airplane
were, at the expense of railways, making travelling in Britain very
competitive and lucrative. The new nationalised railway had serious
patronage reductions, most severely in the travel and holiday sector.
The company board was proactive, and later that same year, a wide
scale advertising and promotion campaign was initiated. Featured in
magazines, newspapers, brochures and in railway stations, they aimed to
spark a nostalgic captivation in British holiday destinations. The poster
was a definitive example of how such nostalgic feelings can be
resurrected from the viewers past. These posters made it seem as if it
was a matter of national pride, presenting a symbol, that to go to the
seaside was a very British holiday. The family in the photo is the
quintessential British family, they are represented, with vivid emotion, as
enjoying the beach and the associated social activities. The landscape is
simply used as a setting to these nationalistic activities, and as with art, it
is represented in a way that, according the artist, is most evocative of the
emotions associated with people and landscape.
This poster represents the people of Britain, and the landscape of the
British isles in a very appealing manner, which in my opinion, is effective
at stirring up pleasant feeling of emotion in the viewer, which of course
was its purpose.