I have entered copies of front covers and maps
from the following programmes:<br><br>Clacton
1977<br>Filey 1978<br>Skegness 1979<br>Barry Island
1980<br><br>You will see that on the Filey and Skegness
programmes Ploot and Toot appear, in fact on the Skegness
programme another character appears, a little Toot/Ploot!

Hello, <br><br>I'm an MA student currently
researching post-war men's leisure/holiday clothing. I'm
interested in seeing what men really wore, rather than what
can be found in advertising etc. Consequently, I'm
trying to find people with collections of holiday snaps
from the 1950s and 60s, either of family or collected,
who would be willing to let me see them.<br><br>I'd
be very interested to hear from anyone who think
they might be able to help.<br><br>Also, if anybody is
interested, I have two postcards and a tin looking for good
homes: Bognor 'Camp Buildings By Night', postmarked
1965; and Clacton four scenes, postmarked 1982 (but the
images look slightly earlier); the tin has photographic
scenes, possibly 70s. <br><br>Thankyou, Mark Thompson

Is there any chance you could take some pictures
of the things left from Butlins you mention in your
post? What sort of things? Is it just the things at the
back of buildings that aren't used anymore or are
there buildings that are from Butlins era that are no
longer used (if you know what I mean). I'm sure there
would be others in the club who would be
interested.<br>Sorry but alas I cannot help with your
request.<br>Davey

Thanks a lot for the info on Ploot and Toot. Is it possible for you to scan the
programme with them on and put it in the photos section on here.<br>Thank you in
advance

Ploot and Toot are on the cover of the programme
that I have for 1979 when I was at Skegness. From
memory they were used as a marketing tool by Butlins to
promote the camps around 79/80. I still recall the TV
adverts that showed them 'landing' in a Butlins camp from
outer space and thinking how wonderful it was.

Being Scottish I trust you did not expect a
tip!<br>The fact that I was only 12 in 74 meant that I was
used by my parents to carry the luggage to the chalet,
only joking!<br>It is sad that a great camp has been
knocked down, in October I saw the remains of the camp
and thought back to good times in 78 when I was last
there.

Who knows golfhappy, I could have been the barrow
boy who pushed your luggage to your chalet, back in
1974. Maybe you were the guy, who didn't tip!<br><br>As
I write, Filey Butlins, or rather the reamins of
it, has just about disappeared. The final stages of
demolition are currently ongoing. The boating lake is
littered with piles of gravel, ready to infill it. All of
the scrub and wilderness has been carted away, to
reveal the concrete floors of all of the
buildings.<br><br>The fountains have been demolished (should have been
preserved!) and the indoor pool has been flattened.<br><br>It
is almost gone forever. How sad.

I've put some rather sad views of Filey, in the demolition folder.

Does anyone remember 2 characters from Butlins in
the late 70's to early 80's called Ploot and Toot.
They were 2 sort of space creatures that they had at
the Skegness camp, don't know if they were at any of
the other camps though.

hi everyone,ive just joint butlins yesteryear and
think its brill,but what i woulb realy love to know
about and see photos of is butlins in pwhelli as i work
there now as a havenmate and its now called hafan y
mor, but all round the park there is tings left from
butllins especially in the back of buildings that arent
used. can anyone help me i would be really grateful

Would also like to buy copy - not able to receive it on Scotland T.V. - Stuart
(Clacton "red" 1967) - Thanks

I don't think it got shown here in the Midlands - Did anyone video it ?  Can
anybody do copies ?

There is a new series on Anglia TV called "Hello Campers" which started last
week!! Part 2 is Sunday 11 November. Did anyone see part 1?

Thanks for the info on Filey and the details
about the Haven Park and the land previously held by
Butlins, made interesting reading.<br><br>Intersting to
note the comments on Butlins and potential increase in
visitors. I would like to think that such visitors will
enjoy the camps as much as I did, but also that Butlins
ensure that they provide a quality service that will
encourage people to return, and yes that includes
accomodation being kept clean!<br><br>Look forward to reading
other people's experience of Butlins - for information
I visited Butlins camps throughout the early 60's,
70's, 80's and 90's.<br><br>My memory recalls:<br>-
Barry Island 72<br>- Minehead 73<br>- Filey 74<br>-
Skegness 75<br>- Clacton 76<br>- Clacton 77<br>- Filey
78<br>- Skegness 79<br>- Barry Island 80<br><br>then in
the late 80's and early 90's breaks in Ayr.<br><br>So
you could say I must have enjoyed Butlins!!!

Filey was closed in 1983. the closure was said to
have been because of the decline of the british
tourist industry. Thats what the Rank groups statement
said at the time anyway. The camp was reopened though
and rename Acorn Park it eventually closed again in
1986 when TSB bank forclosed the loan to keep the camp
open. The camp was later sold again to be redeveloped
into the larges retirement villige in europe but it
was never carried out demolishment still contiues on
the site to this day. I was on the site around two
months ago the two fountains and the indoor pool are
still standing as well as some of the chalets. the
older type aswell as the later built luxury flatlets,
later called Standard the economy accomodation it is a
true shame that this happened. Butlins is once again
on the up though. After the redevelopments of
thecamps in 1999 booking slowly droped again but due to
the unfortunate and terrible terrorist actions in
america butlins has received and immence amount of
bookings. This can only lead to more great things for the
camps in years to came

Filey closed in October 1983, along with Clacton.
I too have visited the derelict site and very sad
it was.<br><br>Primrose Valley certainly does
contain part of the old site. When it closed, 40 acres
were sold on to expand the caravan park. This included
836 chalets from yellow and white camps, York dining
hall, Regency ballroom and Windsor dining
hall.<br><br>There is an excellent book about Filey called 'Thanks
for the Memories' by Paul Wray. It is in 2 halves,
showing the camp in its heyday and also after closure,
with many nostalgic photos.<br><br>firstime58

Yes the Filey camp is derelict, the only thing
left that I could see the other week was the remains
of the indoor swimming pool, part of the structure
is still standing. I was visiting the Haven site,
Primrose Valley and I am convinced that part of this site
takes in the 'old' Filey camp, i.e. the old tennis
courts that Butlins Filey has in 1978 (this is when I
last visited the camp) appear to be standing within
the Haven site. Next to the tennis courts is
wasteland with lots of rubble, that from memory (and I
still have the camp programme from 1978) was the
location for the chairlift. People may recall in 1978
there were 2 gates to enter the camp, the first gate
coming from Filey looks like the entrance used by Haven
for touring caravans.<br><br>Does anyone know when
Filey actually closed down, it was a great camp and I
have happy memories from my time spent there. I also
went in 1974 and sometime in the 60's, not before that
as I was only born on the 60's !!

I have just been looking at photos in the Filey
folder, specifically the General View and then the
Disrepair folder, the Swimming Pools photo has a common
landmark with the Filey general view. I find it hard to
reconcile the two, and wonder how it is that something can
go from a large popular holiday spot, and then just
lie abandoned and crumble. Of course the simple
answer is in customer trends and expectations, economic
reality of maintaining the structures. Ironically if the
camp were still going it would doubtlessly be
relandscaped and changed beyond recognition anyhow. Yet I find
it harder to accept that it just remains, unused,
neglected, past the point of return I'm sure. Is any of it
still there? I don't know how old the photos
are.<br>When I was in Dovercourt back in 1994 I saw a boating
lake (looking abandoned but not yet totally derelict),
and a croquet lawn, with small wooden building. Add
to that the few beach huts, cliff top hotel,
pathways and shelters along the sea front, and the whole
place was evocative of what I imagined the English
seaside was like in previous more austere decades. The
two young girls playing on the beach, with a large
but rather limp inflatable tube leaning against the
base of the sea wall added the timeless quality of the
young engaged in play at the beach to what otherwise
seemed a rather nice time capsule of a place, that will
have doubtlessly changed if I am ever fortunate enough
to be back there again.<br>Best wishes,<br>Davey

Hi everyone<br><br>Myself and a couple of
colleagues are currently in the process of collecting
information for a proposed new website devoted to the history
of the Butlin's empire. Instead of trying to do solo
projects it was agreed instead to combine all our
resources and to turn the project into a combined effort.
We've already welcomed a resident Filey expert on board
who is willing to share his personal memories and to
open up his extensive private photograph album.
Another has offered use of his 100-plus collection of
postcards, all of which will be scanned and uploaded. But we
still need lots more! So I'm appealing for anyone to
come forward, either to submit an article, no matter
how long or small, or even just to share some
memories and stories. Likewise, anyone willing to submit
scans of postcards, photos or maps will also be most
welcome to come onboard. With all our combined resources
we could make this site into something very
comprehensive indeed.<br><br>You can contact me direct at:
butlins@...<br><br>Many thanks,<br>Glen

I know i have neglected this club of late, but
just to let you all know that I have been scanning
away at all my postcards and photos, and that there
should be a load of new stuff for you to look at in the
coming weeks, but feel free to post any of your own that
you have.

HiDe Hi was indeed filmed in Dovercourt, at the old Warners Camp. Alas it is no
longer there, and I beleive it is now a housing estate, although this may be
wrong.

Hello all I am new to this club. I live in
Australia and I have never been to a Butlins camp. Most of
my knowledge about them came from my reading of
"Best of British" magazine (the nostalgia mag), and I
also own a super 8 film on Holiday Camps. I am not
sure if any camps featured are Butlins camps. Alas it
is far away in storage so I can't watch it just now
to check.<br>Surely there must be a wealth of family
home movies, and photographs. Like the rest of you I
would love to see more of them.<br>I have a general
interest in British seaside stuff and on my only visit
managed to see a few of the wonderful piers you
have.<br>Where was the series Hi-De-Hi filmed? I gather it was
somewhere near Dovercourt as it was on our way there that
an Aunt mentioned it, although I gather those
chalets etc were later destroyed.<br>Best
wishes,<br>Davey

Hi!<br><br>Wouldnt it be nice if there was
smebody we could find that has got soime old footage of
butlins asnd even better sokem old cine
film!<br><br>There has to be something out there!<br>My granddad
must of had some at omne point as he udsd to takre my
muma nd auntie every year (twice every year!)<br><br>I
have asked my mum but she doesnt
knpow1<br><br>Thanks<br><br>Bye

Research has gone v.well, we've spoken to Norman
Bradford's (the first redcoat) widow, some redcoats from the
50's and 60's visited Skeggy for the update and, my
favorite, spoken to Paul Shane - Ted - from
Hi-de-Hi!<br>The programme now titled "HELLO CAMPERS!" is due to
go out on Sundays in November at about 6;00 on
Anglia (ITV) and they've let me present it!!!<br>I HOPE
YOU ENJOY WATCHING IT AS MUCH AS WE ENJOYED MAKING
IT! Hi-de-Hi!

How's the research going? When might the programme be shown?<br><br>Ho-de-Ho!

ive got the butlins story obn viseo if that counts!

We are currently researching a programme on the history of holiday camps for
Anglia tv if you have a story or anything else you'd like to share contact me at
goddardm@...<br>Hi-de-Hi!

I was delighted to come across your site. I have
a huge interest in the nostalgia of Butlins. This
stems from childhood holidays - mainly to Clacton - in
the late fifties/early sixties,and having worked at
the camps in the early seventies.<br>I have a
collection of about 500 postcards,almost100 badges and
various other bits of memorabilia. I would be most
interested to swap thoughts and experiences with other
members.

Does anyone have any old video / cinefilm footage of any of the old camps
?<br><br>Thanks

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