The Scottish Mail on Sunday - You
‘Being a Redcoat changed me – it gave me confidence’
STEPHEN MULHERN, 43, is a magician and presents the Saturday night gameshow In For A Penny. He worked at Butlin’s in Minehead between 1995 and 1996
Back in my days as a Redcoat, I had no idea when I introduced PJ and Duncan on stage at Minehead that I’d end up working with them years later, as Ant and Dec on Britain’s Got Talent. It was a job that proved to be an amazing stepping stone for me.
Every year, when I was a child and teenager, my family holidayed at the Minehead camp. It was something we really looked forward to. To me, the Redcoats may as well have been rock stars. When I was 16, an act dropped out of a performance and my dad volunteered me to take its place, because I’d been performing magic since I was 11. I did it and was asked whether I’d like a job as a Redcoat when I turned 18. It really was a dream come true, and I ended up working alongside some Redcoats I’d once idolised as a guest.
I loved every minute, from hosting the Western-themed Crazy Horse Saloon bar to judging the Knobbly Knees competition. As well as introducing celebrity acts like Freddie Starr, I also got to perform myself. When you were a Redcoat, the crowd was kinder. They knew you weren’t a professional, so even if I had the odd hiccup, it didn’t matter and it gave me a chance to grow my confidence. I even had the foresight to get someone to film me when I performed, and left with a showreel on VHS which was so valuable.
My fondest memory is of the camaraderie between the Redcoats. Many of us were young, away from home for the first time and loving the experience together.
DAWN MARTIN, 56, is an office manager and lives in Redditch, Worcestershire. She worked at Butlin’s in Brighton and Blackpool between 1983 and 1984
My childhood family summer holidays in the 1970s were always spent at Butlin’s, and I grew up worshipping the Redcoats. To me, they were so glamorous. If one came to sit at our table at breakfast, I’d blush, I was so in awe of them.
When I was 19, I spotted an advert in the local paper for Redcoat auditions. The audition was very intense – I spent two days at a hotel being interviewed and performing with around 100 others. To my amazement I was chosen and told I was being sent to Brighton in the spring of 1983 to be a children’s Redcoat entertainer. I stayed until the end of September, then was moved to Blackpool, working as a Redcoat for around 16 months in total.
The early 1980s was very different when it came to holidays. A week in Butlin’s was a very big deal – something families looked forward to all year. The season I worked in Brighton, we offered day trips by coach to France, but often people didn’t have passports because foreign holidays weren’t the norm.
All the Redcoats lived in one wing of the hotel together, and after hours we socialised with the hotel staff in our own bar. There was definitely a work hard, play hard mentality. I can remember finishing work at midnight, going out in Brighton, then coming back for a shower and changing into my uniform before hosting breakfast on zero sleep!
My time as a Redcoat changed me as a person. Before, I didn’t have much confidence. But the Butlin’s staff who auditioned me saw something in me and gave me a chance.