Broadreeds 1987

My summer at Broadreed was to be a challenge, i would be working as Assistant Entertainments manager under Colin Green whom i had worked with the previous summer. I was impressed with Broadreeds as it was modern. I had my own room and full Bathroom. WHOOPEE!!!!!, the swimming pool area was spanish style and really nice, the ballroom was modern and spacious with nice seating and the spanish bar had a homely feel with a gallery around the sides.
I worked with some fantastic people. Kathy Henry was chief hostess and we worked well together but we did have a fall out which di dnot last too long, Mandy from Leeds was great laugh, Joanne from North London, Wendy from Blackpool and Clare from Burton on Trent, her boyfriend who came to visit ended up as a bluecoat, Jock from Scotland ( surprise surprise) left and we needed a replacement, he had been at Broadreeds the year before and expected to be offered promotion and i got it over him so there was some bad feeling there on his behalf.
I organised some great shows and used ths skills of Wendy who was a dancer to choreograph new routines which we practiced outside the chalets in good weather, this motivated her and instilled confidence in her. I tried my hardest to motivate everyone and i think looking back we all had a great season. Colin Milne who i had worked with at Middleton 84, Sand Bay 85 showed up as Childrens uncle working alongside Aunty Vicky who was about 4ft8" and a bundle of fun who the kids love, if i remember correctly she was from Nottingham.
Cabarets were great and the lighting system helped us out as it was modern and i colour coded all the switches so everyone knew what was what.
This was the year i took 2 weeks off in May to go to Corfu with ged, it was not the normal thing to do and usually not allowed but i was given permission by the asst camp manager unaware that he had not cleared it with the Manager so i had that to deal with when i got back and a lot of grovelling. Anyway i settled back in and the summer continued.
Looking back now we did so many dangerous things like, i drove the noddy train with up to 30 kids riding on it, it had a mind of its own and took off quite quickly, i did it last minute when driver we usually used went sick. I was not insured and could only imagine the claims if something had happened.
We still had comedians that told racist jokes and covered delicate subjects that we cannot even think about these days without being accused of non-Pc behaviour.
I used as much talent in the shows as i could and everyone who could sing/dance/act had their chance to do it, we ended up with an International show containing Copacabana, Dont't cry for me Argentina, Western Section, Cockney section and a all singing all dancing finale. It was great fun and we all looked forward to the Friday night show.
Alas this was going to be my last season and i would be saying goodbye to Pontins but talk about going out with a bang!!! Remember Michael Fish saying " there is no hurricane coming" well it did, one October night. Broadreeds was situated south of Chichester in Selsey-on-Sea in Sussex which took the brunt of the storm. We were all called for an emergency meeting the next morning in the ballroom. The swimming pool surrounding walls had collapsed, there was damage to many chalets and roofs had been blown off chalets. Police wer stopping coaches heading south with holiday makers and turning them around as the site was not habitable. I really am a little blurry as to what happened the rest of the season as there was only a few weeks left so if anyone can fill me in on that i would appreciate it.
I am hoping some of my old colleagues will get in touch and we could organise a re-union. Once again to those who are unaware, check out www.bluecoats.net and register yourself free.











My personal favourite, Broadreeds Bluecoats 1987 with the man who started it all, Sir Fred Pontin Himself.

Bluecoats 1987 evening wear

Bluecoats 1987 in daywear

Gary and Fancy Dress competition, Gary and Garry in corridor leading to Ballroom from Dining room.

Aunty Vicky and Chief Hostess Kathy

Aunty Vicky and Uncle Colin Milne in childrens theatre.

Western

Copacabana ( again)

Western Show

Friday night Finale show

The trio in the Spanish bar

Richard and Lar Jarmain. A personal favourite.

Osmington Bay 1986

This was the year i was re-united with a bluecoat from 1983, Paulette Clark, she would be Assistant Ents Manager, She was very fair and great to work for although did have her moments. I suppose we all liked the limelight and the loudest cheer at the end of the week in au-revoir, but Paulette always won. She was popular with guests due to her bubbly personality and because we knew each other i sort of got a little bit of special treatment and my daily rota was usually ok.
Osmington was also an adults only camp and on a very steep incline, people in wheelchairs almost had the people pushing having heart attacks trying to get them from the dining room to the ballroom. This was my second season without kids and starting to enjy adult conversation and entertainment and not having to do the sunday morning dishing out of captain croc t-shirts in a million sizes and it took hours in the peak school holidays.
I liked Osmington, it overlooked the naval base at Portland, Weymouth and the only thing i disliked was the shared bath facilities. I did initially share a wooden cabin but David ( left in picture ) he left half way through and i managed to hang onto the large chalet for myself which housed 2 beds 2 sets of drawers a sink and a toilet. Pauletter had a guest chalet with proper bathroom and i was so jealous of that as having to leave my cabin when it was raining and windy and walk 3-4- cabins uphill to the bath block was not good. As bluecoats we could have sometimes 30-45 minutes from day duties and then change and bath into evening wear so if the bath was occupied i had no time to wait and sometimes had to miss out which i hated. The biggest mistake Pontins made in 1986 at Osmington was to trial 18-30's guests for 6 weeks from end of July until beginning of September, what a disaster. The centre housed about 1500 guests when full and some weeks we had 150-200, and the line dances the children and "normal" pontins people liked did not go down too well, neither did the muppet style orchestra in the ballroom, we struggled. Some cabarets had been specially booked for this and went down well in the smaller disco/venue next to the ballroom. Other acts struggled as this type of guest wanted to stand by the bar swilling lager and looking at us making complete fool sof ourselves doing ths chucky chucky and wondering " what the hell am i doing here"?
Bingo also suffered and this was a huge profit making twice daily event for Pontins, afternoon sessions never took place due to lack of numbers and evening bingo had prize money of pittance!!
Colin Green was the entertainments manager and sort of blended in at the bar chatting with the guys and trying his best, Paulette was most popular with the groups of lads and she managed to win over some great mates and actually get them to enjoy themselves.
The ramble was more like a mountaineering expedition to Lulworth Cove, it took hours and steep ocean side cliffs had to be climbed. I was exhausted after that but great views in good weather.
When September came and the Cauliflower brigade returned ( white permed hair) the camp was buzzing again , bingo was packed and so was teh ballroom floor, i always seem to be able to communicate better with older people and loved their stories from years ago which were not only interesting, they made them feel special just because i was interested.
We had so many staff leave and join i really do struggle with names, we had two great life guards who worked long hours and looking back never got recognition or motivated and their job was prettyboring staring at the water all day. We had two dedicated people for sports, a guy called Stuart and a female colleague, we also had Paul who was in charge of the sports centre, snooker, darts etc. He sort of loved the girl attention when we had the 18-30's but got bored when the oldies returned. The highlight of my week was Thursday nights when our band was off and Jack Hawkins band filled in. They had a great reputation and had worked Cunards QE2 and other ships. Their singer, Phil Blackmore ( in one of pictures at bar to my left) he melted me when he sang and i sort i had a little stupid crush and used to blush if i was within 10 feet of him. He was straight and was seeing one of our waitresses who was a pretty young blond girl. Jack and his musicians wowed the crowd, you could always tell when a cabaret or band were good as at midnight the ballroom was still full. If you had a naff night the last waltz would be played to bluecoats only as everyone else had gone to bed, that happened a lot in all centres. The other venue then took over for Disco music until 1am, i hated doing the DJ as we all had to take it it turns, it was usually full of staff spending their hard earned pittance of a wage and handing it back to Pontins over the bar!! I always tried to save a few hundred quid each season as to work long and hard and walk away with nothing would have been pointless.
Osmington was also my first ever experience with drugs, NOT taking them but a member of staff had been seen with them and his accomodation searched and drugs were found. He had the normal one hour to pack and leave and was escorted off camp. This caused the camp FM to start up and gave us something to talk about and also frighten those who were maybe also taking drugs, i am now and have always been ANTI drugs. My 5 seasons at Pontins taught me to enjoy myself and be able to do anything without drugs or alcohol and this is how it remains today. I did smoke then but that was my only vice.
A bluecoats training included the art or "circulating tables" within a venue a keeping it to 10 minutes per table, however if you had a group of great guest who smoked, offered you cigarettes and bought you the odd coke you often found yourself there for hours and sometimes reminded by management who had sadly been timing you.
The season ended at beginning of October and i suppose i was used to the tearful goodbye's of colleagues who you had just spent 7 days a week with for many months and probably would never see them again. I packed up my things a few weeks before to sort of get them into some or order and waited the dreaded last day, Uniform, ID, chalet check and many other formalities had to be completed before you were given you last pay packet and bonus and permission to leave. All very regimental but a thing which happened in all the camps as some people did wreck their chalets or cause some damage and this came out of their last pay packet.





David, Piata, Guest, Paulette and Gary ( me). Copacabana ( seem to be doing this a lot)

Gary and Paulette after a lunchtime sing-a-long.

Paulette in her cabaret in ballroom backed by jack Hawkins

Colin Green Entertainments manager

Andrea, Gary, Colin and ???? maybe Sue!!

Our spoof on Fergie's wedding in 1986, i was "HRH THE QUEEN" Paulette was Fergie, Asst camp manager was Prince Andrew, The two camp nurses are in frilly frocks ( dont't know why) and even Ged was a Paige boy as he visited me a lot from Newcastle and he had to save to come as his earnings were low then and the coach journey from Newcastle to Weymouth too about 8-9 hours. ( bless!!!).

Jack Hawkins and his fine Orchestra.

Andrea on her day of followed by the trombonist from Jack Hawkins Orchestra who sadly committed suicide, Gary and Phil the singer from the band i mentioned earlier.

Sand Bay 1985

I really do not know where to start with 1985, what a year it was, and as you will see by the photographs the faces change time and time again. The reason for this was our Entertainments Manager Ricky Gee ( now deceased), he was a task master, we were scared, he was a short but stocky guy and had been with Pontins for many years and his wife worked on the catering side and moved around with him to diffferent centres so they could be together. They both had the aura of "yes you should be scared" about them. We all had to work from 8am until 1230am the next day, not much time off during the day, we could even be publicly humiliated, once he marched us all from the ballroom, infront of guests, into the entertainments office and we got a right roasting. We lived in fear, he thought he was the only person who could sing and none of us were allowed to sing in bluecoat shows. This all changed one afternoon, he organised a game of "hoy" everyday, it was very populare with guests and we were about to realise why it was popular with him. It as a game of bingo but with playing cards, a deck of cards were dealt to 4 players sitting around a table so all players had 13 cards, we used a pack and called them out as they were turned over and first person to get rid of all their cards won. He charged £1.00 per table, per game and there were sometimes 40-50 tables and some only playing with 2-3 players so had 2-3 dead hands on table, There was no gambling tax as there was with "proper" evening bingo!! He collected money and disappeared back stage to work out the prize money, i was not bad at maths and knew that 40-50 tableds meant £40-£50, prize money would be £30 so he was making in his pocket £20 a game and we played about 5 so that was £100 per day and X that by 6 working days and very handsome £600 per week or £2400 per month, my wages were £65.00 per week so once a a guest questioned the prize money he was urged to investigate more, Ricky was watched, caught and fired on the spot, he was given 1 our to pack up his stuff and leave the centre, this was Pontins rules on sackings.
I was asked to become temporary Ents manager until a replacement could be found, Sand bay was one of the camps with a long summer season from March to November with some centres running May-October. The lovely childrens aunty, June from Brean Sands, ( another pontins centre about 8 miles away) filled in and was a great lady who allowed us to sing and pushed us forward, then Roland Hall arrived, a smooth, 007 type who was well into his forties but thought he was still 23 with a trophy girlfriend in tow but not on camp.
The season went well, right at the end we hosted the Disco Dancing Finals hosted by and ex of mine John Sharples. He is in the guinness book of records ( or was) for dancing the longest, i was so proud of him, it was a case of wrong place, wrong time, i was 19 years old when i first met him and never been away from home, i think he would have given me his right arm if i had needed it but i was too blind to see it all as i was in a whirlwind of freedom and being aloowed to be openly gay amongst openly gay people was like Christmas to a country boy from a small village. It was a little like Billy Elliott .
John was, and is a kind person and i think he still holds a grudge for the way i behaved and i would one day like to personally apologise. He was funny, intelligent, but once again i wasd swept up in everything else and could not see what was staring me in the face. Maybe life now would be totally different but who knows.
The picture beneath shows happier days without Nazi regime!!! I enjoyed my long summer in Sand Bay but after working two summers in a camp that held 3800 when full to a camp of 650 was a huge change, also Sand Bay was adults only so no children, a blessing sometimes and a big miss at other times.

Meeting a coach 1985

Blues 85 Sand bay

I think the picture is drunk!! The War Show


Bkuecoat old time music hall show and also with the twins from "Hi de Hi" who toured in their own show.

Mike Terry, Pianist cabaret, "grand"

Comedian Cabaret 1985

Middleton Tower 1984

Former "Mr and Mrs" hostess Donna Mayer was a regular weekly cabaret act and a great singer. A WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE scottie!!!!

Kaos played the Berengaria Theatre.

Maggie, Helen, Panda, Pianist and Gary outside dining room.

Elegant Gran weekly heats ( could be very competitive)

Gary and Tom on Noddy train

Gary and Maggie, Keept fit

in the Ballroom

Geordie, Guest, Tom and Gary

I hated doing spotlight as Berengaria was haunted by "George" who had been seen and heard many times and to get to this spotlight was a dark and dingy walk, some girls refused to do it!!!

Tom, Gary, Maggie and ???

1984 was a strange old year. 1983 had been such a good one it was goign to be a difficult year to beat. Only a handful of bluecoats from 83 returned for 84 so we had a lot of new joiners, the problem lay with cliques forming and team work collapsing. There is a selection of people who were made for this job and others who slip throught the net and arrive at camp feeling like a duck out of water,you cannot be shy or afraid to use a microphone or it's time to leave.Peter Piper and Aunty Jaqui were the on site childrens aunty and uncle. Peter had been at Middleton Tower in 1982 and had missed 83 returning 84 as he was a good friend of our Entertainments manager Robery Towell, Peter was great with the kids and organised a kids show every week with hundreds of kids to organise, a true tough job!!!This was the year of the new uniform. A darker blue and a litle drab abd boring,i really felt like a Bluecoat in 1983 in white trousers and blue jacket, this year i felt like a pilot ( ironic to think i went on to work in the airline industry)With the bad feeling that was going on this year, our CEO Jan Kennedy was called in and we all had a grilling about how our important role and holiday makers do not pay money to see miserable faces and atmospheres. This sorted things out in a way, however i remember calling my dad to come and pick me up as i had had enough myself but i was talked out of it. Tom McDonald a former restaurant worker was given the job as bluecoat when someone left and he moved into my chalet which i had been used to having to myself.He was a fellow Geordie and we got along ok. He was the kind of person who could wear anything and look good, grrrrrrr!!!!!
Anyway the season went by and over with and i think i had outstayed my welcome at Middleton Tower so this is when i decided to move onto another centre, welcome Sand Bay, cripple creek, it had many pseudonyms and all very apt.

Blues that i can remember were from 83 Helen Hamilton, Craig Storton, Paul Peck, Sharon Payne, Robert Towell and of course me,newbies were, Elaine, Wayne, Colin Milne, and Uncle Peter and Aunty Jacqui.

MIddleton Tower 1983

My Bluecoat life starter on a cold winters day at my interview in Newcastle, my interviewer was Robert Towell, the process was relaxed and in weeks to come i received a "you have been successful letter". I whad to attend a training court at Brean Sands in March 1988 and i would be spending the summer season based in Middleton Tower Morecambe. My course was basic mainly concentrating on Cine racing, Bingo, how to run a darts/snooker competition, those obligatory line dances, eg slosh, chucky chucky and those involved in the Touring show had to stay and extra few days for rehearsals. I met all of my colleagues who i would be working with and all seemed like a great bunch. In fact 1983 turned out to be one of my best summers ever, Maybe it was a combination of excitement at fulfilling a dream job and unaware of the things other people would fight for, i was happy to plod along and have fun and did not get involved in what others quibbled about.The team thats year were led by Robert Towell , his assistant was Marrie Phillip, with Steve, Craig Storton, Helen Hamilton, Paulette Clarke, Paul Peck, Nick Gee, there was also Geordie from Newcastle, Alan from Scotland and Dale as well as a couple of others i cannot remember. We were in the traditional Blue and White uniform which was to change the following year.

Our chalets were situated at the back of the camp, very basic (similar to HI-DE-HI) two single beds wedged between them was two sets of drawers, one standing wardrobe and one built in one which was always mouldy, a sink and in a slim room was a bath and a toilet. This was going to be home for over 6 months and we made it what we could.

I will add to this blog on a regular basis and if you click on the following link you will see pictures in motion of the seasons i worked.

Middleton Tower 1983

Middleton Tower 1984

Sand Bay 1985

Osmington Bay 1986

Broadreeds 1987

Please pass this onto others you know within Pontins and lets try and get a community Blog going from guests and staff.

Also please check out http://www.bluecoats.net/ if you were, or are a bluecoat and register yourself online free and some blasts from the past may just appear!!!

http://www.photoshow.com/watch/YI8RM3vh