The Lido, Mallon Dene

A Memory of Rustington.

I stayed at the Lido, Mallon Dene when I was 5 in 1955 with my Mum and Dad. It was run by the WTA - Worker's Travelling Association. We booked the holiday quite late and had to have 2 separate rooms; one with one bed and one with two beds. I was too scared to sleep on my own so I slept with my Mum and Dad slept on his own in the other room. The chalets were in 2 floors and we were upstairs. My Dad worked out that he could knock on the wall of his room and that we could hear it in ours. Dad's wash basin had a small chip in it, so I remember he filled in the gap with a piece of his red Lifebuoy soap! I loved the camp as I could hire a horse styled bike for 6p a go. I was very lucky and was allowed 2 goes. I had a gold gathered up style swimming costume - I have a photo of me in the paddeling pool there - and I took my teddy bear "Teddy Chum" away with me. Nice memories of 53 years ago.

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Added 16 January 2009

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I've just read Thelma's memory & yes, it used to be The Lido before it became Mallon Dene. I think we had about 5 holidays there over the years. I went with mum & dad & some more family, & later my boyfriend came too. We always made friends there & kept in touch for several years. It was just SO friendly. It was a fairly small camp & far more personal than Butlins. I used to count the months, days & weeks until our holiday came around. I have some lovely b/w photos & would never part with them. Our family used to go to many different holiday camps, but I was 16 (1959) when we first went to Mallon Dene. I loved it so much. I had my first crush there. Lol. He was the accountant, who worked from a small office in the reception lounge. He was a whole lot older than me! He was a great ballroom dancer & when he asked me to dance I felt as if I was floating on cloud nine!! Wonderful memories. The songs of the day when we stayed there were Lipstick on your collar & Dream Lover, & if I ever hear them now I'm thrown right back to those happy times.

By Jenny Cracknell on Thu Mar 24th 2016, at 11:44 am

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Jenny, this is slightly strange as I think the man you had a crush on was my grandfather, Clive Innes who was there at that time. My Mother just gave me a huge pile of photos taken by the official photographer at the Lido. She was going to throw them away but I thought it might be fun to post a few of them. I wander if you might be among them?!
Simom

By batess on Sat Feb 17th 2018, at 8:19 pm

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