The Great British Holiday
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An announcement
I am working on a new book.
It is called The Great British Holiday, to be published by Remember When An Imprint of Pen & Sword books in July 2011.
The Great British Holiday.
A nostalgic journey into a lost world of holiday camps, caravan parks, and camping sites. Of trips to the seaside: of Punch and Judy shows, Ice cream parlours, donkey rides, B&Bs, fish and chip shops, buckets and spades and sandcastles, kiss me quick hats, knotted hankies, saucy postcards and end of pier shows. Of interminable train journeys and car journeys and coach trips to the coast. Of illicit liaisons and pre-marital sex. Of promenades and seaside hotels. Of amusements and fairgrounds and Gypsy Rose Lee the fortune teller. (Did she tell your fortune? Did she get it right?) Not to forget The Great British Weather.
Do you remember any of this? Were you there? Were you a punter, or
were you in the trade? Did you ever work in a holiday camp, if so, in what capacity? Do you have any family snapshots or holiday photos which the author could use? (All acknowledgements given, photos scanned and returned by return of post).
CJ Stone, author of Fierce Dancing and The Trials of Arthur, would like to hear from you.
- The Great British Holiday
CJ Stone's Facebook page. You can contact the author here, or via HubPages. - The Seaside Travel and Nostalgia site
This site is all about the British Seaside Holiday. We cover the whole country from Bournemouth to Brighton; from Blackpool to Cornwall. We look at all aspects of tourism in the UK. - BUTLINS REDCOATS
Dedicated to ALL the BUTLINS Redcoats, Entertainers, Staff, and Holidaymakers who have wonderful memories of their time at Butlins Holiday Camps and Hotels - The British Seaside
Google books - BBC - Comedy - Hi-de-Hi!
Part Carry On-style farce, part class comedy and part nostalgic romp, Hi-de-Hi! was a heady brew.
Letter to local papers
Dear Editor,
I am writing a book, called The Great British Holiday and was wondering if any of your readers would like to help.
I’m looking for memories of holiday-making in Britain from the thirties to the seventies.
If you worked in the holiday trade in this period, or if you were a regular visitor to any of Britain’s holiday resorts, to holiday camps or caravan or camping sites, whether as a child or as a parent, I would really like to hear your stories.
I’m interested in everything to do with the seaside: in donkey rides, amusement arcades, sandcastles, buckets and spades, fortune tellers, fairground rides, bingo, Punch and Judy, piers, end-of-pier shows, deckchairs, ice-cream parlours, Kiss Me Quick hats, bandstands, lidos, saucy postcards and knotted hankies.
How did you get there? Did you drive or go by train? Where did you stay? It doesn’t matter how great or how small, your memories are precious and I would really like to share them.
Also any holiday snapshots, or left-over postcards would be of interest, to be included in the book with an acknowledgement. Pictures can be scanned and sent by email.
An appeal to readers
I'd like to make an appeal to British readers:
If you would like to help me with this, by participating in an interview, or by providing pictures or information, please contact me via the link here.
All pictures will be acknowledged and returned safely. I look forward to hearing from you with all of your fantastic stories.
Meanwhile I will be keeping up with my other HubPages venture, Whitstable Views, here.
http://hubpages.com/profile/Whitstable+Views
Here's wishing you all a great year!
More hubs by CJ Stone
- Beyond The Forest: Journeys to the Heart of Transylvania
Transylvania is a country of miracles, of legends, of strange tales, full of mystery. CJ Stone discovers scepticism and the Milky Way and meets a statue of a multi-armed goddess-tree with a macabre tale attached. - Whitstable, a unique North Kent town
Mentioned in an article in the New York Times recently, Whitstable is a unique Kent coastal town just over an hour by train from central London. CJ Stone liked it so much he decided to move there...
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Comments
Oh yes I remeber those days "baby crying in challet number 28" the nobbley knees contests and having to walk out miles before you could paddle in the sea at Southport beach stepping over the donkey deposits as you went.The laughing clown inside his glass case infront of Blackpool pleasure beach I wonder if he's still there. Have'nt thought about any of this in quite a while thank you for inspiring in me the recollection.
Thanks UW. Any memories of Butlins?
This seems like a great plan. Alas I think I am a bit too young for the majority of the chapters - otherwise I would help you. Good luck with it!
Hi wanrey, yes you've got it. I'd forgotten those laughing clowns. They were scary.
Thanks Bristol Boy. What's the holiday scene like now i wonder?
Congrats! I'm sad to hear you'll go missing for awhile but so glad you got the book dea. Best of luck with it--we'll all miss you. :)
Good luck with the book. What we got up to on wet days should be a chapter in itself!
I'm an ignorant American myself :), but just reading the press release makes me want to experience every bit of British Holiday! I enjoy your writing and wish you all the best in your new ventures- how wonderfully exciting! Best to you!!!
This is such excellent news,Chris! Congratulations on getting a deal for it! That is brilliant!
When I was a kid my parents took me on holiday in a chalet in Stepaside near Wiseman's Bridge in Pembrokeshire and I used to delight in finding lizards and adders and all sorts of marine creatures in the rock pools.I remember catching prawns and shrimp too and cooking them. Then we started going on camping holidays too - again in West Wales and also the New Forest. We had a big blue family tent.
Hi Pam, I'll drop by every so often to check on people's hubs, so you haven't lost me completely.
GW: you'll have to let me know what you got up to on wet days. Are you up for an interview?
Hi RooBee, hopefully I will be able to evoke the feeling in my book. There's nothing quite like it anywhere else.
Hi Steve: I will be asking questions later.
2011 seems like such a long time from now. Congratulations! Love the premise, can't wait to read it!
Hi JG: a year to write and a year for publication. It's normal. Hopefuly I can do a good job and everyone will enjoy reading it. I'm very excited by it all, but a little daunted at the sheer volume of material.
It sounds wonderful, and I'm looking forward to reading it!
All I remember about Butlin's is the chalet and not being allowed to go on the ferris wheel with my father and sister :)
All the best CJ...hope you have fun working on the book! :)
Thanks for dropping by everyone.
Hi CJ, you're very welcome to my memories of caravan holidays in the Witterings and Hastings, plus other seaside holidays in the 60s and 70s in both Bournemouth, and Beltinge/Westgate staying with friends and family. We never used the holiday camps, but I never had a holiday abroad until I inter-railed at 19, so I've quite a few memories of the British sea-side, particularly in the Kent area, and of course Brighton, where we often headed for day-trips. Feel free to e-mail me if I can be of any help!
Hi C.J. It sounds like a facinating book. Of course, we here in the states have had some exposure to the British resort towns through films such as Mr. Hulot's Holiday and the books of Agatha Christie. What a facinating time it must have been. Best of luck!
Hi Amanda, I certainly do want your memeories. We'll do a phone conversation when I've reached that stage. Looking forward to speaking to you.
Hi Christoph, other books include the History of Mr Polly by HG Wells, set in Herne Bay, and Brighton Rock by Graham Greene. I'll look out for Mr Hulot's Holiday. Which Agatha Christie books are set in seaside resorts? I'm looking forward to working on this.
One of Agathie Christie's was set in Puerto de la Cruz, here! They recently had a festival about her and they have displays in the Orchid Gardens in Puerto because that is where she was inspired to write the book. I had an article on it here:
Butlins at Scarborough, where I nervously went to my very first 'discotheque' and developed a phobia of ballroom dancing; Blackpool B&Bs with my first (and only) acting role on the pier as one half of a saloon door; my parents caravan at Morecambe; my grandparents caravan in some Welsh farmer's field (I forget the place but remember the mad-eyed goat tethered directly outside - the bruises faded in time); the Log Cabin at Siloth, with those peculiar four-seater peddle bikes, like two benches; the chalet in Kidwelly when we'd all had flu and it rained non-stop so we all came home early...
You want this stuff?!!
Hi! Pat writing: This sounds wonderful - I am fascinated by social history. My Wonderful Husband has some interesting holiday memories, and I will talk to Tricia (the other Patricia) about this. If she ever went on holiday with her family I will leave another comment.
I moved to Wales in 1968 and didn't really go on holiday until 1973, so I think that I am outside your timespan.
Best of luck with this project.
Hi Pat, 1973 would be ok, as long as it was in the UK. Look forward to Tricia's and your husband's memories. I'm just working on how to do phone interviews, and once I've got that figured I'll contact everyone here who has expressed an interest. Great to hear from you.
Very interesting hub and a pleasure to read. Your book is going to be a great source and I am sure a quality example of "oral history". Your hub made me thinking about some stories concerning the history of the outgoing tourism (aimed particular towards certain regions in the Adriatic) of my own country. Please keep us up to date about the progress of your book.
Cheers.
thanks for share the great idea.
Good luck with your research, I would be interested to read the final product.
Have you looked at the various Butlins, Pontins etc communities on Facebook? There are plenty of ex-staff members from the 1970's there who will have lots of stories for you.
I worked throughout the 1990's at Pontins, Butlins, Haven and a few others. Had the time of my life. Good luck!
Uninvited Writer says:
5 months ago
Congratulations. It sounds like a great project. I remember visiting a Butlins once as a kid.