‘I learned how to work – and play – hard!’

LINDSAY GARVEY-JONES, 47, is a national retail manager in the travel industry. She lives in Lancashire with her wife Jenny, who is in the Met Police force. Lindsay worked at Butlin’s in Pwllheli, North Wales, between 1990 and 1991

The chalet parties during my 18 months as a Redcoat were legendary. I’ve no idea how we had the energy to drink and dance into the small hours after a day on our feet working, but we all needed to wind down and inevitably romances did blossom. In fact, two of my friends from those days are married now.

I applied to be a Redcoat when I was 18, and it was my first time living away from home. I’d been to Butlin’s as a child, so thought I knew what the job would entail, but I had no idea how hard Redcoats had to work. From 7.30am, when we would greet guests at breakfast and eat with them, until late at night when we were expected to join them dancing and drinking, it was full-on but I loved every minute.

We weren’t allowed pets of any sort on camp, so we adopted what we wanted from the petting zoo, and would look after them when we were off duty. I really loved ‘my’ chinchilla.

I would host Glamorous Granny and Bonny Baby competitions, but my main role was to look after children aged nine to 13. Back then there were far less health and safety restrictions, and we didn’t need qualifications to teach them skills like swimming and archery. Looking back, it was a lot of responsibility to have at such a young age, but we took it seriously. The kids used to write us fan mail when they went home and I was acutely aware that I was responsible for helping guests create special, lasting memories.