Reconnect with friends and family and remember summers gone by

20th July 2021

Tourism body, Visit Essex, is launching a new campaign to encourage residents to reconnect with friends and family and remember summers gone by. 

As the economy gradually re-opens people are getting together with loved ones, and many are inviting friends and family to stay in the county. Visit Essex is asking the people of Essex to remember days gone by and step forward and share their stories of past Essex-based holidays, days out, places they enjoyed as a child, perhaps where they had a holiday romance, worked as a red coat, or share their memories and experiences of what they love about Essex. 

Cllr Mark Durham, Chair, Visit Essex, explains: “We want to tap into nostalgia. We’ve all missed friends and family so much over the past year and it’s brought people together remembering the good times. We’ve all enjoyed amazing days out, perhaps school trips, short breaks etc in the county and we thought it would be fun to reflect as well as gather as many interesting stories and pictures of people enjoying a day at the seaside, visit to the zoo, perhaps whilst they were children, and share how the people of Essex are now making memories with their own children or grandchildren in attractions around the county.”

Pictures and recollections from the campaign will be shared on the Visit Essex website, social channels and will form part of a wider marketing campaign. 

Essex has a lot of history and heritage to celebrate, including Clacton-on-Sea marking its 150th anniversary as a seaside resort and Colchester’s leading art gallery, FirstSite, commemorating its 10th birthday. To discover more about Essex’s past, the Essex Record Office is open for bookable appointments, visit www.essexrecordoffice.co.uk. 

If you have a story or pictures to share with the team at Visit Essex, please share on Instagram or Facebook and don’t forget to #EssexMemories, or email hilary@wearebigwavepr.co.uk with your stories. The best #EssexMemories picture will win a free afternoon tea at a Tiptree tearoom!  
To discover more about places to go in the county, www.visitessex.com. 
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Notes to the Editor
VISIT ESSEX
Visit Essex is the official tourism organisation and the only body specifically marketing the whole of the county to the visitor market. We work with visitor attractions, leisure/activity providers, accommodation establishments and other tourism related businesses (including the travel trade, media and wider partners), to ensure that the county remains a leading visitor destination.
Our work encompasses major marketing campaigns, high profile PR work, business support, and the management and promotion of the official Visit Essex brand. Visit Essex will ensure that the county gets the recognition it deserves as a desirable place to visit in the 21st century. We will work closely with partners to develop a sustainable tourism offering for the future, identify new markets and harness visitors at the county's major gateways of Stansted, Harwich, Southend and Tilbury.

For further information:
Hilary Collins, Big Wave PR, hilary@wearebigwavepr.co.uk, or call 01206 231807.