not so obvious memories

[rustythestarlight]

When looking at old Butlins images, i like to remember what I actually felt (not always the obvious memories) like, the excitement of being in line waiting for the Gaiety theatre to open, standing next to the pink wall looking at the round windows on the side of the building, in the theatre during the show: always looking forward to the thicker white curtain opening to leave behind the see through white curtain. The announcement of Toot and Ploot landing on the theatre roof (nearly wet myself with excitement), The smell of porridge and bacon outside the dining room, the popcorn smell at the fair, the large pig litter bins. The blue flowery curtains in the chalets. The red neon lights reflecting off the outside pool whilst carrying chips quietly back through the chalet lines then trying to cut fish with a spork! The calming steps of late night campers walking up the metal steps and past my bedroom (top bunk). The whir of the chairlift rope. The glide of the chairlift entering the station skimming the mesh wire fence then with that final jump before the chairlift man bust a gut stopping the car so we can get off (but we stayed on to go round again!!)

there is lots more memories like these that are personal to me

these are the things I like to remember... and thats why I collect Butlins memorabilia because I don't ever want to loose these memories. Thank you Mum and Dad for the taking me and Thanks Billy Butlin!

[frank worrall]

Those were the days, like you Skegness and Minehead I went too with my parents in the 1950s, was a redcoat at Barry Island in 1969, took our children when younger and still go up to now. It obviously made a big impression on you as it did me. I started collecting Butlin memobelia last year, so far have one badge. Wanted to collect Barry only, these seam to be rare, since they only did them for three years, I believe. Best of luck.

[pushbutton]

Pretty much the entire time I was at Butlins as a kid I was overwhelmed by pure joy and excitement!

In particular, the feeling when I first arrived with my family in the carpark can only be described as euphoria! I was actually at Butlins! I couldn't believe my luck. Knowing that for the next week, or maybe two weeks, NOTHING else mattered but having fun all day, and I knew I would!

The only parts of the holiday that was a little bit different than that were the days when my parents insisted on taking us out of Butlins to see the local area (why?) which thankfully didn't happen often, and of course the last day of the holiday during which I was always doing my best to deny to myself that I would be going home the next day.

Eventually the reality become unavoidable as we had to pack and leave the camp, and the only thing then that could cheer me up was my parents telling me they were planning another Butlins holiday so I had something to start counting down for again!

I suppose above all else I felt an amazing sense of freedom because I could choose what to do and where to go with virtually no restrictions whereas at home everything was on a strict timetable (school, homework, chores, piano practise, scouts, church etc)

[rustythestarlight]

It certainly did make a big impression!

When i was home on the same evening it was torture, looking at the clock constantly thinking its 7:30pm and I could be in the gaiety theatre, the show's about to start, instead i have to go to bed whilst its still light outside!
and in the morning when i woke up to find I'm no longer in chalet R5 Blue Camp and couldn't drink tea out of blue plastic cups....bummer!

so... I made a replica chairlift out of Meccanno in my garden that was motorised and travelled over my Dads pond carrying Lego people..but the sad thing was before tea at 5:30, I took the cars of one by one and stored them in the station, left it overnight and reopened at 9:30!
I can't believe I'm writing this!

Great to brag about the holiday back at school though.

My parents never took us out to see the local area, they knew it was a lost cause and not worth the effort to drag me out, but they went themselves for a morning and left us (me n sister) in the camp to do everything on our own. Children are so wrapped in cotton wool these days, it was great to have that independence even if it was just for 3 hours.

David

[pushbutton]

It certainly did make a big impression!

When i was home on the same evening it was torture, looking at the clock constantly thinking its 7:30pm and I could be in the gaiety theatre, the show's about to start, instead i have to go to bed whilst its still light outside!
and in the morning when i woke up to find I'm no longer in chalet R5 Blue Camp and couldn't drink tea out of blue plastic cups....bummer!

so... I made a replica chairlift out of Meccanno in my garden that was motorised and travelled over my Dads pond carrying Lego people..but the sad thing was before tea at 5:30, I took the cars of one by one and stored them in the station, left it overnight and reopened at 9:30!
I can't believe I'm writing this!

Great to brag about the holiday back at school though.

My parents never took us out to see the local area, they knew it was a lost cause and not worth the effort to drag me out, but they went themselves for a morning and left us (me n sister) in the camp to do everything on our own. Children are so wrapped in cotton wool these days, it was great to have that independence even if it was just for 3 hours.

David

Wow! That Meccano chairlift sounds awesome!!!
Did it actually work like real chairlifts? Did you have a cable and pylons etc?
How did you do this. Was it a chairlift Mecanno kit or did you design it yourself? Please give me as much detail as possible!

By the way I often tried to make models of Chairlifts but I never could get it anything like the real thing and I certainly couldn't make a working model.

I also sometimes made model chalets!

Come to think of it I still do now in a way. I have a brilliant computer game called Rollercoaster Tycoon 3, and it includes chairlifts and monorails that work EXACTLY like the ones at Butlins, so I have built a huge theme park complete with chairlifts, monorails, as well as a funpool and various other rides Butlins has or did have, as well as other rides Butlins never had.

I only play the game in "sandbox mode" and the best bit for me is opening and closing the chairlifts, so don't be embarrassed because CHAIRLIFTS ARE FASCINATING!!!

[rustythestarlight]

Yep I did that too....recreate Butlins in rollercoaster tycoon 3.

ok the meccanno chairlift was two big wheels at either end with a loop of string supported by 5 pylons which had the little wheels i think 5 each side ( i just pushed the pylons and the pole with the big wheels in the station in the ground) the big wheels were motorised on both ends as the motors were not that strong and ran on batteries, switched on at the same speed. the frame of the carriages were meccanno whilst the seats were cardboard in the shape of the Butlins chairs and felt tipped in primary colours with Butlins logo written on side (i was quite good at doing the logo).
the chairs were snapped on to some string with the smallest lego bricks. The string was about a cm in length very tightly, so small you could hardly tell it was 'tied' to the main ropeway so it could easly glide over the wheels and around the big wheel in the station. once the chairlifts were removed, there was a little bit of string (that was tied) remaining, but really small so i could live with that! The station was made of lego with big windows like at Butlins. It wasn't as sophisticated as i would of liked, but i was only about 12, still wearing a superman cape! I enjoyed it and so did lego grandma with the big grey hair and no arms!

[Joker]

This sounds like something that would of been photographed, any chance of you looking through the old family albums ? or any other Butlins pictures you find, would be nice to see.

Joker

[rustythestarlight]

soooo sorry, it wasn't photographed.
My parents were used to me doing this kinda thing, if it wasn't this, it was toy theatre in my bedroom!
but I do have my Butlins wall muriel and my Holiday Checklist display on my notice board in my bedroom photographed!
I'll get them when I visit in March!

[rustythestarlight]

2 silly memories!

I was in the Skeggy nursery (on the postcard, there's a wooded plane, well I sat on that, fell backwards and banged my head, the nurses didn't come to my rescue though!)
anyway, I was in the Skeggy nursery and I handed a paintbrush to my little sister and said she should give it to the nurse so she could be thanked. I just remember seeing her point the paint laden brush at the nurse, the nurse took it, then SLAPPED my sister on the head and she came back to me crying. I'm laughing as I'm writing this!...hey thats what brothers are for!
and
We'd just arrived on camp and saw the tail end of a ballroom competion. When the music stopped I shouted out really loud
"GOD AREN"T THEY PUFFS"
people did laugh, i was only thinking out loud. Mum ushered me out VERY quickly.

[pushbutton]

The chairlift system sounds absolutely brilliant. Such a shame it wasn't photographed.

You mentioned that you removed the chairlifts at night. Did you do this by just switching the motor off then cutting the string that tied each chairlift on the ropeway, or was there more to it?

Also I'm wondering how big the system was?

[rustythestarlight]

the string was trapped between the smallest lego bricks (the one blob brick !!) Three small 'one blob' bricks together the first one superglued to the meccano and under the last brick (at the top) is where the string was trapped. To remove the chairs I just Pulled them off and lined them up in the little lego stations at either end. I didn't remove them though until they were near the station entrance. I kept alternating between stations (during this time, my tea was getting cold). To put them back on though I had to remove the top brick and re-trap the string (and occasionally re-superglueing the bottom brick to the meccano frame....i was happy fiddling with bits like this)

I had about 5 pylons. The two at either end were lower than the three main larger ones on the middle. This is a rough guess as it was a long time ago, but I think it was about 8ft as the middle bit went through some shrubs (large trees in my mind) and over my Dads pond (the lake)

[goodie]

In the current business climate my job as a sales manager for a large photocopier and printer company can at times be quite difficult and often stressfull.
So much so that on Tuesday afternoon I decided to take a trip down memory lane and drove down to my old stamping ground at Barry Island.
As usual the temp at Barry was a stunning 40 degrees. 20 degrees in the morning and 20 in the afternoon and of course it wasnt rain that was falling on my car as I looked over the headland at Jackson Bay towards where the old red and blue camps used to be, it was just a little spray blown up from the sea.
Funny how those words are easily recalled even after 25 years but we must have said those gags thousands of times.
Thank you once again Barry Island you may be gone but never forgotten

[phantom chase]

Old thread, but my first time reading it. The chair lift model is something that i would like to make now, if i had time. But it would be custom, not from mechano, which i never had as a kid anyway.

I did make a model paraglider back in the mid 80's, which was really good with an electric motor connected to a train set power supply for 3 speeds. I made a manual pully system to raise the cars. It was so good that my mate made one as well, but not as good. Mine ended up in the bin when i got in a mood one day )

I started making a rollercoaster from the mdf bed of my old snooker table, but didn't get very far as the materials were too expensive for me, only being on pocket money at the time.

[Joker]

I know Andy has seen this but the rest of you might like this.

http://www.monorails.org/tmspages/niles.html

If only we had the space, time and understanding partners.

Joker

[phantom chase]

I must admit, i was sitting in my back garden the other day, wondering how it would look with a chairlift. You know, proper green pylons like the ones at Butlins.