Every hut is unique on Cooper's Beach.
For decades they have been a familiar sight to regular visitors to East Mersea, but now there is an acceptance that the huts at Cooper's Beach will disappear in the not too distant future.

With their days numbered, one of the remaining band of hut owners has decided to compile a history stretching back to their origins in the early 1930s.

Carol Page, who lives at East Hanningfield, has been a regular at Coopers Beach for the past 20 years, and she is anxious to hear from anyone with old documents and photographs of the huts.

The huts were originally put up by members with the permission of the East Mersea Golf Company Ltd. The golf club at that time was said to be one of the finest in Europe and was owned by Jimmy Austin and 'Old Bishop'.

The golfers wanted the huts as a place to leave their wives and children by the sea while they enjoyed a round of golf. In those days the site was known as Sunny Beach and was part of the East Hall Farm Estate.

Anyone who wanted access to the beach had to pay at the gatehouse. The first hut was built for a Colonel Dodd by an islander Joseph May. They were made of wood and generally measured 12ft by 20ft with a four feet veranda and separate cook house at the back. The huts were large enough to sleep a good sized family.
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Date: 1990s