The 1950s were boom years for the Great British beach holiday and, prior to the advent of cheap flights and package deals, resorts such as Blackpool were the last word in time off.
The photographs were taken by Picture Post photographer John Chillingworth over the August Bank Holiday weekend of 1954 in Blackpool, showing a man dozing in a deckchair, beauty queens on the hunt for entrants for that year's Blackpool Bathing Beauty competition and a quartet of young women enjoying a game of beach volleyball.
Wonderful Color Photographs Show the Heyday of Blackpool Beach in the 1950s
Wonderful Color Photographs Show the Heyday of Blackpool Beach in the 1950s
Wonderful Color Photographs Show the Heyday of Blackpool Beach in the 1950s
Wonderful Color Photographs Show the Heyday of Blackpool Beach in the 1950s
Wonderful Color Photographs Show the Heyday of Blackpool Beach in the 1950s
Wonderful Color Photographs Show the Heyday of Blackpool Beach in the 1950s
Wonderful Color Photographs Show the Heyday of Blackpool Beach in the 1950s
Wonderful Color Photographs Show the Heyday of Blackpool Beach in the 1950s
Wonderful Color Photographs Show the Heyday of Blackpool Beach in the 1950s
Wonderful Color Photographs Show the Heyday of Blackpool Beach in the 1950s
Wonderful Color Photographs Show the Heyday of Blackpool Beach in the 1950s
Wonderful Color Photographs Show the Heyday of Blackpool Beach in the 1950s
Wonderful Color Photographs Show the Heyday of Blackpool Beach in the 1950s
Wonderful Color Photographs Show the Heyday of Blackpool Beach in the 1950s
Wonderful Color Photographs Show the Heyday of Blackpool Beach in the 1950s
Wonderful Color Photographs Show the Heyday of Blackpool Beach in the 1950s
Wonderful Color Photographs Show the Heyday of Blackpool Beach in the 1950s
Wonderful Color Photographs Show the Heyday of Blackpool Beach in the 1950s
(Photos: John Chillingworth/Getty Images)