Youth Conferences And Holiday Work

A Memory of Ilkley.

I first got to know Hollybrook in November 1961 at a Methodist Youth Weekend. I attended, eventually leading, such weekends until the house closed. I also worked as a member of staff during summer holidays and at weekends. There was a Friends of Hollybrook group: I was Youth Rep. on the committee. Jenny Titchmarsh, who worked at the Guest House, was the mother of an Alan Titchmarsh but not the TV celebrity - he was her nephew and lived on the same street. Of all the regular guests I most remember Harry Dodd who entertained with monologues (his 'Messiah' had me falling off my chair) and tunes on bamboo pipes he had made from trolley bus poles (you'll need to be old to understand that!). When Hollybrook closed Eddie and Mary Spiers moved the run the Christian Endeavour holiday home at Cromer.