This film is part of Free

Children Lost and Found Hut in Weymouth

A new service is launched with a designated meeting point for lost children on Weymouth.

News 1967 3 mins

From the collection of:

Logo for South West Film and Television Archive

Overview

TV reporter Clive Gunnell is at Weymouth Beach in Dorset meeting the Entertainments Manager Mr Willand Bosworth on the new hut on the beach for lost and found children. Children drift off in all sorts of directions on the busy beach and the hut is the point of contact for frightened and lost children whose perfect day at the beach has dissipated like a receding tide. Weymouth has a three-mile long sandy beach and promenade and has long been popular with families.

The service is hoping to reunite youngsters quickly with their parents and explain that teaching your child not to do things because “There is a policeman watching you” has not helped children who are genuinely terrified of police in uniform. Police services have campaigned over the years to reverse the idea that they are responsible for all naughty children! Mobile phones aside for toddlers, many missing children are found quickly, but for children who go missing at the seaside there is the added stress of a tidal sea. Nowadays local authorities offer services such as resorts operating wristband schemes and throughout the summer months lifeguards patrol the beaches.