1962

This is the original line-up of Ricky and the Layabouts: Ricky Barnes (lead singer), Kit Knight (lead guitarist/vocals), Tim Knight (rhythm guitarist/ vocals, David Wallis (bass guitarist) and Dave Pryor (drums). The band played their first gigs in the Winter Gardens and had a minor residency in...

Looking towards the Prom past the Bath Inn on the right

Even on the far side of the Prom where foliage and the children's play park is today, slabs were removed by the force of the water issuing from the waves and their spray on the seaward side. Note the Beachfield Hotel which has changed little.

It's a wonder the Tolcarne Inn was still standing after this. I guess their cellars were sodden. I doubt if anyone tried one of their beers the next day!

You'd be glad not to have parked your car here by the Tolcarne Inn, Newlyn

This boat was found thus near the Tolcarne Inn at Newlyn

This section of the Promenade is also breached badly. The rubble on the shore tells its own story. The construction of the old Promenade is shown well here. No lip as with the new one to curl back the waves.

The path to Newlyn from Lariggan was a trail of rubble and the grassy sward more like a duck pond.

Such was the force of the storm that the lamp standard was felled by the waves and the Bolitho Gardens (where the loo opposite Lidl's today stands) were destroyed and therefore rendered useless. This shows how far up the waves came to wreak their wicked will!

Notice the old bandstand which was later to be removed, so no more Sunday concerts. The sand was washed away from the foreshore to such an extent that it was possible to see yellow and grey clay and brown peat in which old tree trunks and branches from the submerged forest of Mount's Bay were...

The extent of the force of the storm is well demonstrated by this picture of the Promenade the next day.

The Jubilee Bathing Pool was breached at the height of the storm when the level of the water inside was covering the paved area before the wall gave way.

The old slip which faced the other way from today's version took the brunt of the storm. Notice the Bathing Pool and the War Memorial at Battery behind.

A view of the Promenade after partial clearing up operations by the Marine Hotel (now the Lugger Inn)

The following day after the worst storm in living memory, Penzance Promenade licks its wounds, one of them a gaping hole in the sea wall opposite the Marine Hotel, now the Lugger Inn.

Waves fill the houses and gardens on Captain's Row and Marine Tce in the Western Promenade Road near the Lugger Inn of today

The aftermath of the storm. I actually witnessed the wall cave in before the onslaught of the monstrous waves the previous evening. This was partly aided by the pressure of the water gathering within as well as the waves from without.

The whole of the old Prom is hammered simultaneously - no curved lip to repel the waves.

Huge waves fuelled by a south-easterly gale and spring tide hammered the old Promenade. This view is from the Bathing Pool end of course.

This slipway was replaced by one facing the other way nowadays. It is at the beginning of the Prom on the Bathing Pool end.