“Come .... where the sun shines longer” .............. down at the holiday camp

Now we never went to holiday camps which had nothing to do with my parents being sniffy.

It was just that Dad worked in the tourist trade driving people across Europe on sight seeing tours and was away from Easter till September.

And given that there were five of us I rather think mum never fancied taking us all away to a holiday camp.

That said my mate Jimmy always went every year with his mum, dad and brother Fred and always came back sun tanned with heaps of stories about the entertainments, the food and the sheer fun of the place.

They usually went to Butlins, and I think preferred Margate.

The first holiday camps had started up before the Great War but the real growth was during the 1930s and in the years after the Second World War.

The big players were Warner, Butlins and Pontins who played to their strengths offering an all in holiday which was affordable with no hidden charges.

But with the development of cheap foreign packages in the sun the traditional British holiday became less attractive and many were closed.

And last week my friend Andy showed me this brochure from Campers Ltd which family regularly visited

They had three camp sites, one in Kent a second on the Isle of Wight and a third in Norfolk.

I am hoping that this will be the first of a series and that subsequent posts will include memories and descriptions of all the camps.

Location; 1950s and 60s





Pictures pages from “Come .... where the sun shines longer,” Campers Ltd Brochure, circa 1960, from the collection of Andy Robertson

Remembering a different sort of holiday ……. Leysdown Holiday Camp, circa 1961

We never went to holiday camps, although plenty of my friends did, and while I was never envious of their week in the sun beside the sea, I was curious.

Even now, sixty years on I still associate Bognor Regis, Minehead, Clacton and Skegness with places my friend Jimmy went to in the summer, always coming back, with a tan and stories of the fun, freedom and “grown up” entertainment which was on offer.

From memory his family always went to Butlins, but there were other holiday camps and over the year’s friends have passed on pictures, brochures and memories of companies like Pontins, Warners and Campers Ltd.

They were very much of their time, and that time was the 1930s, 40s, and 50s, and while some still exist today, their time was anchored in the decades either side of the Second World War.

The first were already doing the business of providing  a holiday inclusive of food, board, and entertainment for a relatively modest cost before 1938 when it  it became compulsory for firms to provide paid holidays for their workers.

But by providing working families with holiday pay it made it easier for many to take a break, and while the war interrupted the growth of the holiday companies, as soon as it was over there was an expansion which carried on into the early 1960s.

In 1939, Butlins had just two camps, but opened another four between 1945 and 1948, adding one more in 1950 and two more in 1960 and 1962.

It is easy today to be a little dismissive of these holidays, which were quite regimented, but they did offer thousands of families an experience which might otherwise have been denied to them.

So, I must thank Brian Norbury for this picture postcard of “the Chalets at Leysdown Holiday Camp", which is typical of what you got.  Sadly, Brian was less than impressed, commenting,
“I spent a week long family holiday at this place in the early 60s, hopefully it no longer exists”, which is intriguing.

I shall wait with bated breath for Brian to elaborate, leaving me just to thank him and let you gaze on holidays from the past.

But perhaps I understand Brian's reflections, because according to one source Leysdown-on-Sea  is one of those places built on sand, sea and holiday makers, and while there "are several large farms surrounding the village, with a mixture of pasture and arable land, .... the local economy is primarily driven by tourism in the summer months, with many visitors coming from London. 

Leysdown has one of the largest concentrations of holiday parks in Kent, with many caravan and chalet parks. 

During the winter months the shops, clubs and pubs stay open, with the population of Leysdown, Warden and Bay View providing custom. 

In the past few years a boot fair has become a regular fixture on Sundays and there is also a market on Saturdays.

A very small hamlet up to late Victorian times, it was developed a little after the arrival of the Sheppey Light Railway in 1903, though grand plans for the establishment of a large resort with hotels never materialised. The railway was closed in the 1950s.*


Location; Leysdown Holiday Camp, circa, early 1960s, from the collection of Brian Norbury

*Leysdown-on-Sea, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leysdown-on-Sea