My Time At The Camp.

A Memory of Minehead.

I was born in Minehead, and have also lived in Kitswell, Dunster, Williton, Timberscombe and Rodhuish, and attended all the schools. My first job after leaving Minehead School in December 1958, was at the fruit and salad farm by Dunster station (which has now gone.) I worked in Butlins Holiday Camp at Minehead from 1962-1963.This was the first full year that the Camp was opened. Most of the time, I was working the rides in the amusement park. I helped build the Big Dipper, which was 70ft high, but is gone now. Some nights, I sang on the stage under the name of Elvis the 2nd, singing mostly his and Cliff Richard songs. When I was at the camp there were three dance floors, one for rock ansd roll, another for ballroom dancing - which once held the Come Dancing competition for the BBC. The third was for general activities. I danced every night in the ballroom, I was disappointed when I went back to the camp last year (2006) and found that there was no ballroom there now, just the building that housed them. I still go dancing twice a week where we now live. In the summer of 1963, I met a girl from Wales who was on holiday at the camp. I moved to Wales and we got married. This year 2012 it will be our forty eighth anniversary.