Happy Butlin’s memories
Every original contribution published gets a £10 High Street voucher, so keep all those letters and emails coming in
Following a recent feature on Billy Butlin we received many letters and emails about your happy times at the holiday camps. Sadly we didn’t have room to feature all of them but below are just a few. Many thanks to everyone who contacted us. ✒ In the Fifties my husband and I had some lovely holidays at several Butlin’s camps, including Mosney, Ayr and Bognor. As we were not married for some of those trips, we were split up and shared chalets – two girls together and two boys together. There were only bunk beds too! Hanky-panky not encouraged! Our room-mates were complete strangers, but we met some lovely people. Audrey Warwick, Notts
✒ It was at the Clacton camp that I met my first Italian family, from Milan. They invited me to holiday in Italy the next year and so came my introduction to a most wonderful country with kind, friendly people, delicious food and excellent weather. I fell in love with everything Italian and eventually got myself a job in Rome in a travel agency. There I met my husband, a Roman. We were married in 1959 and are still happily married 61 years later. If I’d not gone to Butlin’s, I’d never have gone to Italy and met the love of my life, my soulmate, would I? So, a big thank you to Billy Butlin.
Jeannie Bini, by email
✒ My husband spent many of his childhood holidays at various Butlin’s camps. He has kept many of the things he received over the years as a member of the Beaver club. We have followed on the family tradition and taken our now grown-up children for family holidays, firstly going in the chalets and then taking our touring caravan.
When we gave up touring we bought a static and there was only one place our family wanted it to be. So for the past ten years we have been the proud owners of a four-bed caravan at Butlin’s Skegness. Now our children are following in our footsteps and taking their own children there. Karen Davison, by email
✒ As a family we loved Butlin’s in the late Fifties and Sixties, entering most of the competitions, from Bonny Babies when the girls were small to our elder daughter coming second in the Miss Ribena for Health in about 1967. My strong husband is pictured below in the Tug of War and I am doing my best not to turn the boat in circles in the team race. What I remember is the horrendous noise in the dining room, and if someone dropped a tray of food, we all cheered and clapped. Yes it was definitely Butlin’s at Bognor for us each year. Doris Grimsley,
London
✒ A friend and I went off to Butlin’s at Clacton-on-Sea for a week in the early Sixties, as they were all the rage for young people. We had a great week socialising and jiving the night away. That Wakey Wakey call in the morning was far too early, though! When we arrived back home, Mum said ‘you look as if you need a week to get over the holiday’. We did have a great time, though – never forgotten!
Christine Young, Southampton ✒ We went as a family in the Sixties and loved it. Mum did not have to do any cooking and I remember that Butlin’s food was lovely, and the entertainment was brilliant. I recall getting my pocket money and going to the slot machines and winning – I came home with more than I went with – and I adored the big pool. One year we took our neighbour’s little girl who’d never had a holiday, she loved it, and we went back with our son about 20 years ago who took a friend and he loved it too. Happy holidays had by all. The picture is of us having our supper at Butlin’s in the Sixties. That is me waving! Teresa Keaveney, address supplied