BLUECOAT BLOG: 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.