The Collection: Recent donations
Many thanks to all of you who have kindly donated to the Museum collection. The items below are some of our most recent and noteworthy donations.
Rod and Britannia 1966
Donated by on
Rod Sumpter was born in Watford in 1947 and raised from the age of five in Australia where he grew up surfing. He came back to England as a teenage surf star in 1965 and a year later decided to stay in the UK and still lives in Cornwall today. This photo, taken and donated ……»
Ivy Watson 1946
Donated by Jayne Shrimpton on September 27, 2011
This lovely picture has been sent in by Jayne Shrimpton from Brighton, and shows her mother Ivy Watson aged 15 proudly showing off her bellyboard outside a row of beach huts in 1946. It is thought the photo was taken on the south coast, possibly at Selsey – if you can help identify the location ……»
The Jersey crew 1965
Donated by Mick Holmes on September 18, 2011
Photos from Mick Holmes in 1965 at the Jersey Holiday Camp, Portlet – featuring Bobby the Dog, Bobby Barlow and others standing in front of a Singer Gazelle car with classic Malibu surfboard on the roof.
Matchbox VW Golf 1976
Donated by Peter Robinson on September 07, 2011
This Matchbox VW Golf Mark 1 was made in England in the mid 1970s and featured a pair of plastic surfboards on the roof. It has ‘superfast’ wheels, so that it could be used on plastic racing tracks that were popular at the time.
Deora Hot Wheels 1968
Donated by Peter Robinson on September 07, 2011
The Deora is a wonderfully futuristic looking ‘surf truck’ first produced by Mattel’s Hot Wheels in the late 1960s, and based on an original design by Dodge. These toy cars were made to race down a plastic track and became hugely popular in the 60s & 70s. Hot Wheels still has a huge following despite ……»
Surfer Magazine skateboard c1972
Donated by Peter Robinson on September 07, 2011
This a rare 1970s skateboard produced by Surfer Magazine in California, featuring a beautiful collage of their classic magazine covers of this golden era. It has Continental trucks and a fibreglass deck and was found in Brighton – a hotbed of 1970s skating – in used, but very good condition. Skateboarding was invented by surfers ……»
Corgi VW Beach Buggy 1970
Donated by Peter Robinson on June 30, 2011
1970 Corgi Toys Beach Buggy with surfboards and original box.
SurFaari film poster 1969
Donated by Tony Cope on 12/04/2010
SurFaari was a film made in 1969 by Clinton “Fitz” Fitzgerald while working for Clive Barber in South Africa, and showed for some of the first of the new, shorter v-bottom surfboards in use. Edited by Tony Cope the film was screened across North Devon that summer under the banner of Woolacombe-based West Coast Surfboards. ……»
Woolacombe & Morthoe guide 1968
Donated by Peter Robinson on 12/04/2010
This 1968 guide to Woolacombe and Mortehoe uses a photo of a woman wading out into the sea to use her painted wooden bellyboard to promote the area as a holiday destination. This type of advertising showing the health-giving properties of surfing had been in use since the early 1900s.
Braunton guide c1965
Donated by Peter Robinson on 12/04/2010
Wonderful period artwork on this mid 1960s guide to Braunton & District in North Devon, still using the classic image of a woman with her bellyboard on the beach rather than ‘stand-up’ surfing that was beginning to take over at the time.
Bude guide 1967
Donated by Peter Robinson on 12/04/2010
1967 holiday guide for Bude on the north Cornwall coast, describing it as a “surfing resort” with a photo on the cover showing a woman joyously holding her traditional wooden bellyboard aloft. Lots of surfing content inside, with the town and its businesses really trying to attract surfers in the mid 1960s.
“Fuzz” Pridham 1966
Donated by Tony Cope on October 01, 2010
The late “Fuzz” Pridham from Bideford in perfect trim at Putsborough in North Devon in May 1966 – one of the early crew of locals in the early to mid 1960s. Photo by Tony Cope.
Atlantic Surfer 1979
Donated by Peter Robinson on 07/02/2003
Atlantic Surfer was first published in 1979 and lasted just 12 issues – this one features Britain’s first professional surfer the late Viscount Ted Deerhurst on the cover, surfing Sunset on the north shore of Oahu, Hawaii. The Museum of British Surfing has Ted’s Lightning Bolt gun shaped by Tom Parrish that he’s riding in ……»
Butler 1974
Donated by Neil Watson on July 05, 2008
This is a mid 1970s Maurice Butler single fin stinger, shaped in East Anglia. Maurice was a pioneer surfer in Lowestoft, Suffolk and his first sight of surfing came in 1964 on holiday at Woolacombe in North Devon where he watched a couple of 10 foot boards being ridden (possibly shaped by Bob Powers). Back ……»
Karma 1981
Donated by Neil Watson on July 05, 2008
This is awesome Karma twin-fin dates from 1981 and features stunning period art and a winged swallow tail. In the late 1960s, Dave Farrow teamed up with East Runton fisherman Bob Brownsell to build surfboards under the ‘Cougar’ label on the Norfolk coast. One of their first efforts was to strip, re-shape and glass a ……»
Jersey girls 1928
Donated by Jem Oxenden on June 30, 2010
This wonderful photo donated by the Oxenden family shows a group of surfer girls chilling out in the beach hut at St Ouens Bay, Jersey in the mid to late 1920s. Check out the surfboards racked up and the surf photo on the wall. Standing (left) is Dot Martin, Pat Oxenden in the centre and ……»
Circle One steamer 1979
Donated by Nick Baldwin on May 27, 2010
This is a late 1970s/early 80s steamer by Circle One – Jeff Townsley’s surf company down in Exeter, Devon.
Bob Powers 1964
Donated by Bob Powers on May 28, 2010
Surfer-shaper Bob Powers on the beach at home in North Devon with one of the boards he made in Mortehoe. This was his personal board and Bob donated it to the Museum of British Surfing – you can see it in surfboard timeline on this site.
Skewjack t-shirt 1978
Donated by Nick Paden on May 05, 2010
In the 1970s ‘crop-sleeved’ tops and vests were all the rage – here Nick Paden (Yorkshire, England) has created a home made version with his Skewjack surf camp t-shirt from the late 1970s.
Skewjack vest 1978
Donated by Nick Paden on May 01, 2010
Skewjack was a legendary surf camp at Sennen in Cornwall that started life in the 1970s – this is Nick Paden’s (Yorkshire, England) souvenir vest from that era.