Butlin's
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Definition
Butlins Holiday Camp [1] was founded by Billy Butlin. The first Bultin's holiday camp opened in Skegness in 1936.
History
Billy Butlin was born in Cape Town in 1899, where he spent the early years of his life. Unfortunately, Billy’s parents separated and he travelled from South Africa, with his mother Bertha and brother Binkie, to Bristol, in the southwest of England. Shortly after arriving in Bristol, Binkie died and Billy and his mother began travelling around the country working at fun fairs. During there travels, Bertha met and married Charles Rowbothan and the family emmigrated to Canada. At the beginning of the First World War, Billy was conscripted into the army. He was discharged in 1918 and left Canada on a ship bound for England.
In 1921 Billy Butlin began working at a fairground and eventually he was able to set up his own hoopla stall. This soon developed into a number of stalls and he began hiring staff. Billy provided all his staff with uniforms with ‘B’s’ embellished on their blazers. This was the beginning of his famous Butlins uniform. As his small empire grew, Billy began to make enough money to bring his mother, now widowed again, over from Canada. In 1924 Billy temporarily settled at a fair in Tiverton where he met a lady called Dolly. Billy and Dolly were soon married.
Charabancs, a type of coach available to the general public, became a popular mode of travel in the 1920's, and instead of fair’s travelling around the country, it became possible for people in villages and towns to group together and hire transport to visit local fairs. The popularity of the charabancs allowed Billy to build his own amusement site. In 1927, he visited Skegness and found a shabby piece of land, on the beach front, to build his new empire. After flattening the land, he constructed hoopla stalls, a haunted house ride, a scenic railway and a tower slide. His mother mananged the fun fair whilst he focused his time devloping indoor amusement centres, for the winter months, in Whitechapel, Brixton, Tooting, Putney, Hammersmith and Marble Arch in London.
As the years passed, Billy was able to secure more and more new attractions for his funfairs. For example, ‘Alf’ was a performer who buried himself alive in a coffin. Using only a pipe to breath, workers would poor liquid food down the pipe at night time and Alf would stay buried for up to two weeks at a time. Another attraction at the Butlin's fairs was‘Dare-Devil’ Peggy. Peggy was a one-legged woman diver, who would dive from sixty feet high into a ten feet deep tank of water. Billy was also the person who introduced the UK to Dodgem cars. He had seen them in Canada and arranged for some to be shipped over. Seeing another money making opportunity and he gained sole agency rights over them in Europe. By this time, Billy had opened funfairs in Felixstowe, Bognor, Clacton and Rhyl.
In was around the time of his mother's death, in 1933, that Billy had the idea of building a holiday camp. He obesrved that landladies of guest houses were often asking guests to vacate their bedrooms in-between mealtimes. This meant that there were crowds of tourists wandering around in all weathers with nothing to do. By building a holiday camp where everything was in one place and remained open all day, Billy believed he could offer tourists the 'complete package' and in turn it could make him lots of money!
Not far from Skegness, in a village called Ingoldmells, he found the perfect spot to build his first holiday camp. He began building the camp in October 1935. He placed an advert in a newspaper for guests to come and stay and was inundated with replies. The camp was fully booked for it’s opening on Easter Sunday, 1936.
The weather was changable at the camp for the first week of opening and the atmosphere seemed to reflect the drab and damp weather. The camp visitors needed cheering up, so Billy came up with the idea of Redcoats. He used current staff members rather than hiring outside entertainers, as he had exhausted all his funds on building the camp. The original design for the blazers was to use the camp colours of blue, yellow and white. However, on closer inspection, Billy decided the colours were too regimented and this was not the look he wanted for his fun holiday camp. His final choice was a red blazer with white trims. Billy strived to create a community feel at his holiday camp and he noticed that many campers were a little shy at mingling with each other. This is when the catchphrase ‘Good Morning Campers’ was introduced, it was his way of jeering up holidaymakers whilst they enjoyed their breakfast.
Butlins was always a popular holiday destination for British families. It was, and still is, a family orientated experience. This is reflected in the holiday camp's abundance of daily activities, most of which involve family teams. Entertainment was fundamental and competitions were always a highlight of the holiday camp experience. Over the years competitions have included, Glamorous Grandma, Holiday Princess, Keep Fit Teams, Miss Lovely Legs, Miss She History and Show Jumping. Butlins also produced many collectable items including, mugs, badges, clothing, trays, coins, keys, tea pots and lunch boxes [2].
Billy Butlin was an extremely successful entrepreneur, who spent most of his career thinking of bigger and better ways to make money. He was triumphant in the creation of his holiday camps and Butlins remains a striving family holiday destination today.
Interesting Facts
- In 1999, Butlins launched the Redcoat Academies of Excellence. It was the UK’s first showbisuiness university
- Famous Redcoats include, Des O’Connor, Russell Grant, Dave Allen, Jimmy Tarbuck, Sir Cliff Richard, Michael Barrymore, Ted Rogers and Rod Hull
-Other stars linked to Bultins include, Ringo Star, who played in his first band Rory Storm and the Hurricanes at a Butlin's Camp. Status Quo also formed at the Minehead camp.
- Catherine Zeta Jones, Alvin Stardust and Les Dennis have all taken part in Butlins talent shows [3].
Links
1. http://www.butlinsonline.co.uk/
2. http://www.butlinsmemories.com/
3. http://www.retrosellers.com/review022.htm
4. http://www.channel4.com/life/microsites/W/wakey_wakey/
Bibliography
Butlin, B., 1982. The Billy Butlin Story: ‘A Showman to the End’. London: Robson. Ward, C. and Hardy, D., 1986. Goodnight, Campers! : The History of the British Holiday Camp. London: Mansell.
Stella’s Take on Butlin’s
Holiday camps pre-date Butlin’s by many years. The camp considered to be Britain’s first began in 1894 on the Isle of Man. It was named after its founder, Joseph Cunningham. Cunningham’s camp was strictly for young men. Especially those from the poorer parts of Liverpool and the North West. I visited the Isle of Man in 1984 and was thrilled to find evidence of the original station and I visited the area on which the camp stood, although it proved hard to find.
I have always been fascinated by holiday camps and amusement parks, even though I would probably rather face a week in solitary confinement than two weeks in Butlin’s. The idea of having everything organised for you by strange people laughing heartily and wearing red jackets is, somewhat disturbingly, attractive to many Britishers, past and present.
Butlin’s badges, postcards and astounding kitsch memorabilia form a collecting field ascribed to many. I always was one for following the passing show, trailing behind processions picking up the trinkets discarded by those taking part. I spend my own holidays visiting the sites of long ago leisure.
