\n<\/p>\n
Megan, a 24-year-old from the Isle of Wight, is very familiar with saying goodbye. She decided university wasn\u2019t for her and remembers how, one by one, she waved off her friends who left the island to study. Many never came back.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was 18, working in a pub, and I thought, \u2018what am I going to do next?\u2019\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
Megan secured an apprenticeship and now works for an arts organisation on the island, but says her situation is unusual among her friendship group.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m definitely an anomaly in that I have a job that I am really passionate about and I really want to be doing,\u201d she says. \u201cSome of my friends here work in very seasonal, part-time employment, centred around hospitality and tourism. They work loads over the summer, but then over the winter they\u2019re on fewer hours and a very low income and are still living at home.\u201d<\/p>\n
She says there are few affordable housing options and as lots of properties are second homes or Airbnbs, the number of rental properties is limited, \u201cparticularly for young people, as most landlords prioritise families or \u2018working professionals\u2019\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s also not a lot of opportunity here in terms of social activities for my age group \u2013 there are no nightclubs, for example,\u201d she says. \u201cThere is an older demographic, with lots of retirees, and it feels like 18- to 35-year-olds are a missing group here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Between the last two censuses in 2011 and 2021, the number of people aged 65 to 74 on the island rose by 26.7%. The average age in the area is 51, markedly higher than the average in England of 40.<\/p>\n
Megan says that the prevailing narrative encouraging young people to \u201cescape\u201d is frustrating.<\/p>\n
\u201cAdults saying you have to leave the island to succeed and if you don\u2019t leave that you\u2019re \u2018settling\u2019 is unhelpful,\u201d she says. \u201cThen they complain there are no young people here.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the other end of England, in Berwick-upon-Tweed, which borders Scotland, the two phrases often uttered by Colette, 23, and her friends are: \u201cI need to get out\u201d and \u201cwe\u2019re so lucky to live in a place like this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Most young people leave because they don\u2019t have opportunities or their friends have already left<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is an urge to leave and go to see the rest of the world, to leave a town with an ageing population, an empty high street, closed-minded views, and a place where everyone knows each other,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut there is also a pull to stay: the increase of independent businesses, the supportive community, the festivals, the increased funding into the arts, and of course the beautiful beaches and hills.\u201d<\/p>\n
Many of Colette\u2019s friends moved away from Berwick because of a lack of jobs. Others have pursued training or education away from the town.<\/p>\n
Of those, many won\u2019t be coming back.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost young people don\u2019t want to leave because they hate the town,\u201d she says. \u201cEveryone I know absolutely loves Berwick. They leave because they don\u2019t have opportunities or their friends have already left.\u201d<\/p>\n
Colette did return to Berwick after her degree at the University of Bristol. She has been working in a clothes shop and has applied for jobs in the town, but says others were better qualified for the roles. This has prompted her to return to university, this time to study for a master\u2019s degree.<\/p>\n
\u201cCan I see myself coming back here long term if there were more jobs in the creative fields? Yes. But am I studying with the idea of staying? No, I\u2019m probably studying to leave,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
Jacob, 28, who is from Gorleston-on-Sea in Great Yarmouth on the east coast of Norfolk, felt \u201cdisconnected\u201d from his home town growing up.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy memory of looking back isn\u2019t sunny days on the beach \u2013 it\u2019s cold, harsh and foggy walks,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m a gay man, but I came out very young, when I was around 12 or 13, and I\u2019m from a conservative town. There is a kind of culture of conservatism in the area, and so being openly gay very early meant I felt a big disconnect from my local place.<\/p>\n
\u201cI spent a long time when I was younger with an angry mind space because leaving felt more like \u2018getting out\u2019. It felt like, \u2018this place offers nothing for me.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
After his BA degree, he moved back home and briefly worked at a college.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you ask young people what they want to do when they grow up, they don\u2019t know because they don\u2019t have a frame of reference,\u201d he says. \u201cA lot of people will be interested in fashion or photography, but they don\u2019t want to move away. It\u2019s a confidence thing and a sense of inertia that comes with the depression of the place.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jacob moved to London to do his MA, and is now trying to make a career as an artist in the capital.<\/p>\n
Tom, 23, believes he would struggle to live and work in his home town of Ilfracombe, north Devon, without support from his parents.<\/p>\n
\u201cIlfracombe is a wonderful place to live if you enjoy outdoor sports like I do,\u201d he says. \u201cEvery time I go up on the cliffs at sunset I feel extraordinarily grateful to live here.<\/p>\n
In terms of big career prospects, it\u2019s pretty dire. That\u2019s a big problem in these areas<\/p>\n
\u201cBut there are challenges. There is a distinct lack of job opportunities in the area, and combined with the high cost of housing, it feels almost impossible for someone like me, who grew up here, to have a sustainable living without my parents\u2019 support.\u201d<\/p>\n
Central Ilfracombe is the most deprived neighbourhood in Devon and among the 20% most deprived areas nationwide, according to the Index of Multiple Deprivation, as reported by Devon Community Foundation.<\/p>\n
Tom had been looking for jobs in Manchester and Bristol, but secured a temporary position with a local authority close to home, and then landed a permanent role.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel very lucky to have a steady and salaried job, as there aren\u2019t many like it here,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am living at home, my expenses are very low, and I am saving money, so I could possibly have a deposit a few years down the line, but a lot of people are renting and in low-paid seasonal work, living hand to mouth, so they are just not able to save and are unable to buy a property. In terms of big career prospects, it\u2019s pretty dire. That\u2019s a big problem in these areas, unless you can move away, build a career and then maybe come back.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not just young adults who got in touch. Marty, a teacher from Eastbourne, has two children: one 19-year-old son and a daughter who is at university.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are no opportunities here for young kids,\u201d she says. \u201cI told my kids you\u2019ve got to go to university, you\u2019ve got to get out.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have been here 25 years and throughout that time there\u2019s been talk of better transport links \u2013 that hasn\u2019t happened. Eastbourne has been \u2018the next Brighton\u2019 and \u2018up and coming\u2019 without anything actually changing.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for what Eastbourne will be able to offer her children in the future, she is not optimistic.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m glad I brought my kids up here, but I worry about what is there for them as they grow into adulthood. I have to tell them, \u2018there\u2019s life beyond the Downs.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
The Against the tide series is a collaboration between the Guardian and the documentary photographer Polly Braden and reports on the lives of young people in coastal communities across England and Wales<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Megan, a 24-year-old from the Isle of Wight, is very familiar with saying goodbye. She decided university wasn\u2019t for her and remembers how, one by one, she waved off her friends who left the island to study. Many never came back. \u201cI was 18, working in a pub, and I thought, \u2018what am I going<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39145,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[3710,8151,311,337,1317,364,2315,801],"class_list":{"0":"post-39144","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-coast","9":"tag-edge","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-life","12":"tag-living","13":"tag-people","14":"tag-told","15":"tag-young"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=39144"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39144\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/39145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=39144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=39144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=39144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}