In
the summer of 1966, I was sixteen
years old,
and went on my first holiday without any parental or adult supervision.
The
venue was Butlins Holiday Camp, Pwllheli, and my travelling companions
were
two of my former classmates from junior school. It was a whole new
world. Exploring the camp during daylight hours was a wonderous experience in
itself, but then come dusk, a whole new atmosphere descended as, all
around became illuminated by brightly coloured bulbs and lanterns.
On the first night, my
friend Ian Lancaster and I decided to see if we could get served at the
bar. We were so inexperienced, we had asked our waiter in the dining
room what drink we should order.
So it was that we ended up ordering the popular drink of the time - two snakebites (half beer, half cider).
Having been successfully served, we had a second pint each. There was
no need to increase our tally, as those two pints alone had made us
merry.
And here is one of
the things you have to do, when you have had a few drinks and feel like
being silly -- which is to go into a photobooth, and have some snaps
done of you pulling funny faces.
[And before you ask --- NO! we're not]
For the next couple of hours we stumbled
around
the camp, speaking to every one of the hundreds of girls who seemed to
just
keep swimming towards us - although, in reality, the only things
swimming
were our eyes. We
had a lot of fun with the strip of snapshots, stopping girls and saying
things like: "D'ye like our photo. Look! That's me, and that's him." But everyone took it in great fun. No one rebuked us, threatened us, or felt threatened by us, or told us we couldn't get served at the bar, and so we stuck to the same formula for the whole week. It was
the
first time we had been treated as adults, and the freedom we enjoyed
was
an immeasurable confidence booster for our juvenile egos.
Although
the drive-through road wasn't too attractive, once inside this Gaiety
Building (above) you were transported into a true panopticon:- with its
bars, restaurants, theatres, games and TV rooms, a ballroom, shops, and
an amusement arcade - just to mention a few venues.
Although there were enough attactions in the Gaiety Building to keep
you happy there for the whole week. Ian and I skipped over to the
Regency Ballroom.
You might wonder why two sixteen year-olds would choose to go into an
Olde Time Ballroom, but even then we were savvy enough to know
that girls of our age would be with their parents and/or grandparents -
and so it proved the case. Stifling our intoxication as best we could,
we put on an air of two nice clean-cut lads, just out for a bit of fun,
and talked two families into releasing their daughters into our care.
Gosh, this was a great place.
My first stop was to take my girl to the Empire Cinema. What film was
on, I have no idea. I wasn't watching it. As that young girl is
probably a grandmother herself, now, I shall keep further comments to
myself.
Abandoning the cinema, I took the young lady to one of the bars, and
demonstrated my ability to be served at the bar as an adult. I know I
didn't dream all this, as, below, is a photo of the two of us.
.
BUTLINS
PWLLHELI 1966
The morning after the night before. Ian, me, and Jonathon - in the Gaiety Lounge, comparing notes, while chilling out
Note the cards, money and Benson & Hedges on the table.
Study the
photo above, and then this one, and you can
pretty well place where we were
sitting.
Our first daytime activity, the day after arrival, was to take a ride on the chairlift.
When it came to having the chairlift installed, Billy Butlin showed what a true philanthropist he was.
Think about it. Firstly - it was FREE. Secondly - it was OUTSIDE the
camp. Even more of his generous nature was to be seen close by, with
the miniature railway. That too was free, and outside the Camp. He
could have spent the vast amount of money the chairlift and railway had
cost, and ploughed it into facilities and/or accommodation INSIDE the
camp to generate more money for himself but, instead, chose to make his
guests very happy instead. What a kind and generous man.
I
know this train is supposed to be for
kids and parents,
but we went on it anyway – and who
wouldn't. It was a great ride.
[A little tip. Mute the sound. Otherwise the screeching of the wheels will make your teeth shudder]
A couple of nights in, and I found myself on
my own. Jonathon had teamed up with some schoolmates, who chanced to be
there the same week, and Ian was continuing to see the young girl he
had picked up on the first night. But this was Butlins, where you are
never alone for long. I got invited to tag along with two lads from
Nottingham I met in a bar. We all started off trying to pull a
girlfriend, but then did what lads do, and sought solace in beer.
The lads from Nottingham who I met up with. The one on the left worked in a
barbers shop, and brought with him a whole box of condoms which he
shared around.
I've still got mine!
I loved those Norfolk Jackets, which were en
vogue at the time. Concurrently, us lads wore hipster trousers, which
you had to keep up with a wide leather belt. The trouser-bottoms had to
just touch your shoes, but without kinking. [These days, there's about
an extra 4 inches on the bottom of trousers, which isn't needed, and
looks dreadful.] And pointed shoes were still the fashion, but not as
pointy as winkle-pickers.
So how about
that for a holiday for three sixteen year-olds?
Gambling, Fags, Beer, and Birds on tap. Unbeatable!
The
only thing
better than going on holiday for a week at Butlins, was to go there for a
whole season, and GET PAID FOR IT. And that is exactly what I was destined to do - but that would have to wait seven years.