Queens of the seaside Focused on beauty in swimwear at the Tynemouth outdoor pool in the early 1960s. In the early 1960s, with women’s lib just a twinkle on the horizon, the Tynemouth lido on the rocks is the much-loved ‘show pool’ backdrop for a popular spectacle of style and glamour in swimwear. This colourful snapshot of the would-be winners of the Miss Tynemouth Bathing Beauty contest, eased into high heels, parading poolside, was a joint production by two Northumbrian brothers born in...

Queens of the seaside

Focused on beauty in swimwear at the Tynemouth outdoor pool in the early 1960s.

In the early 1960s, with women’s lib just a twinkle on the horizon, the Tynemouth lido on the rocks is the much-loved ‘show pool’ backdrop for a popular spectacle of style and glamour in swimwear. This colourful snapshot of the would-be winners of the Miss Tynemouth Bathing Beauty contest, eased into high heels, parading poolside, was a joint production by two Northumbrian brothers born in Blyth.

Calling themselves Frandean Productions, the brothers worked together on amateur films and home movies made between 1934 and 1967, Frank Wilson as cameraman, and Edgar Dean Wilson as editor. During World War Two Edgar was in the Royal Air Force, based in Tynemouth, installing cameras in planes. He continued in the family firm of decorative plasterers after the war. Frank was in the army, possibly involved in the D-Day landings, and then worked in his father’s pharmacy in Tideswell, Derbyshire, until taking a job with the Co-operative pharmacy, Newgate Street, Newcastle.