Skegness Magazine

Anyone remember the Royal Marines Assault Course and Cliff Climb on the Skegness Pier field in the summer of 1976/7?

Well, unfortunately, I DO remember it – quite clearly!

It was on one of my first visits to Skegness, as the fiancee of a Skegness-born man, that we decided to have a look at the Royal Marines Assault Course which was the latest attraction in town.

My first mistake was to approach the climbing wall, the start of the course, a little too closely.

The second mistake was to turn my back on the Royal Marine touting for business. He came up behind, clamped a safety harness on me and pulled me towards the wall, much to the amusement of the crowd.

My blood-curdling screams of protest went ignored and I was left with no choice but to begin an ascent up the wall.

Now quite apart from being under the minimum height suggested for the climbers, I was a city girl wearing high heels (what else?), and climbing walls was NOT something I would choose to do for fun!

No choice!

I negotiated the first couple of foot holes and quickly came to the conclusion that this was not something I could do with my high-heels on. Furiously, I ripped them off and hurled them at the Marine soldier.

Eventually, I reached the top of the ‘cliff’ where I was subjected to further torturous ‘assaults’ before abseiling back down to normality.

Yes, I remember the Royal Marines Assault Course very well!

AND I’ve got the certificate to prove it:

These pictures, by Wrates Photography, were printed in the local newspapers and are of the 1976 Carnival Queen, 17-year-old Adrienne Bloomfield completing the course.