Weather reports this week warnedof snow to sea level, and it happened in Stratford. We have proof in this picture taken at Stratford Beach on Tuesday.
Stratford's little beach has attracted a lot of interest from outside media recently, but as the second photo shows, it's been enjoyed by locals
for at least 45 years, including lifelong Stratford residents Doreen Savage and Margaret Ellmers, who enjoyed many happy family visits there when their children were young.
Doreen brought in this photograph taken by her mother in the summer of 1964 and 1965. It's a family gathering at Stratford beach, which was a regular visit for families in those days. Doreen is sitting at the far right, with her baby
David on her knee, with a Miss Cornish.
The ``beach'' is at one of several well known swimming holes along the Patea River.
``There were no baths then and no-one went to New Plymouth to swim, you found your own places around the park. It was cold as ice, but the kids had great fun,'' says Doreen.
``When they started to get crabby at home, you'd take them down there,'' says Margaret. ``You took a book and
something to eat and a thermos flask of coffee, and you stayed down there for ages.''
Before that, the two women remembered as teenagers sneaking off to hang out at the riverside beach with schoolmates enroute from St Josephs School to visit the dreaded dental clinic and also to technology classes, which were both on Cloten Rd.
There was an old swing bridge over the river at the beach, and boys would show off, swinging like monkeys along
it, says Margaret.
It's been some time since the two friends went to the beach in Stratford, but they were pleasantly surprised on the
weekend when they went back to a look.
The area has been tidied up, where once were rampant blackberry bushes and rubbish, is a tidy park. The track down to the beach is wider and the beach area itself is larger than they remembered. There's just one improvement they's like to ask for from the council.
``Please Mr Volzke, we'd like a nice picnic table down there,'' they say.
