CELEBRATING ONES PUBERTY
It was in 1958 that my schoolfriend, David Garnham, said that he and his family were going to Scotland for their annual holiday and asked would I like to help them fill their allocation. Being quite enamoured of Davids sister, I gave my decision fairly quickly and I signed up to go.
We embarked on a special hired bus with most of Davids family and friends and set out north west, over the moors, to Carlisle then across the border via Gretna Green and on to Burns Country. We arrived in Ayr after a very long sit in a bumpy bus. We were met by a waving crowd of Redcoats who seemed very pleased to see us. We were told our chalet numbers and David and I were dismayed to be sited miles away from his sister and her friend....
We still had a rare old time, meeting up in the ballroom each evening for a varied programme. I will always remember the dancing to
Val Merrall and his Band
and the "Goodnight Campers" sung at the end..We skated and swam, we boated and rambled and actually hired bicycles to explore the area round the camp...
There was the Electric Brae,
Dunure Castle,
and the Heads of Ayr.
I returned to school after that holiday, enthusing about the whole period. My constant promotion helped to decide the next years holiday, this time I persuaded the group of lads from my lower sixth class at school to go with me.
(In those days you made a block booking and received a discount on your own ticket) .
SKIFFLE GROUP "THE RIVERSIDERS"
By this time it was all "Skiffle", Elvis Presley and Rock and Roll.
It had been announced that Butlins was to hold a competition where amateur bands could compete against each other at the camps, so we decided to take guitars and try our luck. We even took a tea chest bass and a washboard !!
Note that this was the year before Richard Starkey, later to become Ringo Starr, followed in our "footsteps" playing Skiffle at Pwllheli, before he joined Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. Ringo then went on to join the Beatles !
No such fame for our little group from Chester-le-Street Grammar School !
This year we went by train from Newcastle, direct to Ayr so that we could have a carriage to ourselves and practice the latest tunes in peace.
Being the person " with experience" ( I had been the year before) I knew some of the ropes and managed to get adjoining chalets on the sunny side of the camp..There were six of us including Ted Nelson and Ian Hepple and we took over two chalets which turned into pig sties overnight. Quite different from last year !
However, we were allocated two young students as chalet girls and we soon all became good friends.......Some "gooder" than others I might add !!!
The holiday set-up was a repeat of last years, even to the set programme and the dance music. We still hired bikes, skated and rambled but this year we had girls and Skiffle as well !
We went to the first audition and struggled through some of the well known tunes of the day. We then found out that were the only band to turn up that week so we went on to the next stage....We got through that stage as well since we still had no opposition...We ended up "winning" but with there being no other groups with which to compare us, the judges decided it was not a contest and all we got was a chance to play on the last night in front of a drunken crowd. We still played and enjoyed the experience..My fingers were sore from the washboarding, and my ears were ringing all the way home.
I had met two girls on holiday, kept in touch with them for a number of years after, one actually coming to meet my parents !
What happened to Anne Ward and Anne Percival ????
Anne was from Moortown in Leeds if I remember right ........
|