Like many families of that era, any actual holidays we had, were a week or a fortnight away in a caravan at a seaside resort, or at the infamous Butlin's holiday camps. The closest we got to an overseas trip was the thrill of crossing the Severn Bridge.
Porthcawl features heavily in my childhood holiday memories. It is a popular Welsh seaside resort. The name derives from the Welsh for porth: meaning a cove, bay or landing place and cawl; meaning sea kale. Cawl also means a type of soup or stew (see recipe below)
I recall one day we went to Porthcawl on a day trip with the Welsh Baptist chapel we attended, I think this was after my father had passed away. We were all piled into a bus, coach or charabanc, like the one pictured and off we went to Porthcawl. My only memories of that day are three rather random ones. I remember that as we approached Porthcawl, each kid was given a paper bag (that the banks used for storing change) that had a load of pennies in for us to spend. its a memory that remains with me, as that bag of pennies (or halfpennies) made me feel like a king. My other memory is sitting on a wall with a huge bag of chips, smothered in salt and vinegar that was shared by all us kids. Then on the way home each kid was given a piece of fruit and a slice of fruit cake.
porthcawl and bread rolls
As kids in wales we would go to the very same Porthcawl, where the family had a caravan. I think it had been bought as a co-operative with other family members. It was a huge blue thing, I say huge, I was only a small child so who knows. It seemed like a huge caravan to me back then.
We would spend our days like any child, whiling the days away. We would fly our plastic kites; I had a black one with a scull and crossbones on it. Now and again we would be lucky enough to be able to hire a tandem bike or go cart, build sandcastles, swim in the sea or just play away the day doing whatever. We were kids of the 60's, life was an adventure and we always found something to do, we were always doing something, we were never bored.
Most mornings we would have bread rolls for breakfast. These were fantastic. They came from a bakery on the caravan site. They had this most wonderful, super crisp, brown crust to them with a flavour I can still taste today. I suppose they were a bread roll version of a French stick. We ate them slavered with butter; thick, beautiful, tasty butter and maybe a smear of jam. My elder sister or I would be sent, pennies in hand to get a paper bag full of them. Mmmmmmm, carrying them back the bag clutched to our chests, the bag warm from the freshly baked bread, that wonderful aroma of freshly baked bread enticing us. I couldn't wait to get back and have breakfast.
Porthcawl is a typical UK seaside resort; large beaches, beach chairs, candy floss, amusement arcades, resident fairground and lots of other tacky stuff.
In the summer the air is just filled with all those familiar seaside aromas, of seaweed, fish and chips, candy floss being made, suntan lotion and drying sand.
As with many UK seaside resorts, there was always plenty of vendors selling cockles, mussels, whelks etc and pints of prawns. Quite literally a pint glass filled with prawns. My favourite was always cockles. You could stand there and eat them at the vendor's stand form a little plate and a wooden fork. Or take a little bag of them away to eat on the go; the bag always soaked in a combo of the cockle's juice and the malt vinegar you had just drowned them in. I love these little sweet, seafood gems made into a creamy chowder.
recipe - cockle chowder
050 gm butter
050 gm flour
001 pc onion
001 pc carrot
001 pc celery stalk
001 pc potato (large)
500 gm fresh cockle meat
500 ml stock (fish or chicken)
250 ml milk
250 ml double cream
recipe - method of preparation
Melt the butter over a low heat and add all the vegetables cut into small dice (about the size of the cockles). Allow to cook gently for 3-4 minutes. Add the flour and stir in gently.
Slowly add the stock and milk while stirring. Add the cockles with any juice and the cream and simmer until the vegetables are cooked (approx 15 minutes). Serve with a good, crunchy crusted bread.
note - I like to finish mine off once in the bowl, with a pile of nori on top; sheets of nori, cut into thin strips and lightly toasted in the oven with the bread as its warming
I recently returned to Porthcawl, my younger sister, my good lady and myself stopped there en route to Wales when we took mum's ashes up for interring. Re-uniting her finally with my father. We stopped off there because we wanted to take Debbie there, because I hadn't been for decades and because mum loved it. So we took mum on one last visit. I could't believe that it looked pretty much the same as my childhood memories, even down to the same food stalls where we would buy candy floss, sticks of rock, a bag of freshly cooked cockles. None were open as we visited in the winter, but there they were.
This photo is myself and mum on her last ever visit.
butlins
We would also, after the caravan was sold I would presume, go on holiday to Butlin's in Minehead. What a wonderland that was for a child. For those not in the know, Butlin's is a uniquely British holiday camp. It was an affordable get away from it all, family holiday.
And we ate in vast dining halls. There were three as I remember, all named after close by places. I think we always seemed to be in the Gloucester dining room. You were assigned a dining hall on arrival, a table number for the week and what sitting you were; there were two sittings per hall. There was no way you could miss your sitting as the whole camp was informed what sitting was available and when over the camp wide tannoy system. Morning campers .......
The meals were served en mass by waiting staff, they brought the whole tables dishes at once. There was no choices, except for like it or lump it. But I never recall having to lump it, as can be seen by my chubby little face in this pic; that's me on the right, aged about 10. Mind you, those were the days, when you ate whatever was put in front of you with no arguments or you just went hungry.
Breakfast was always cereal, followed by a cooked breakfast. That was always piping hot; sausages, bacon, tinned tomatoes or whatever was on for that day. With large stainless steel pots of tea put on the table, that was the only thing to drink for us kids apart from water.
I don't remember lunches but dinners were usually a soup followed by a main course and dessert. For some reason it was the soups that I vividly remember
Porthcawl features heavily in my childhood holiday memories. It is a popular Welsh seaside resort. The name derives from the Welsh for porth: meaning a cove, bay or landing place and cawl; meaning sea kale. Cawl also means a type of soup or stew (see recipe below)
I recall one day we went to Porthcawl on a day trip with the Welsh Baptist chapel we attended, I think this was after my father had passed away. We were all piled into a bus, coach or charabanc, like the one pictured and off we went to Porthcawl. My only memories of that day are three rather random ones. I remember that as we approached Porthcawl, each kid was given a paper bag (that the banks used for storing change) that had a load of pennies in for us to spend. its a memory that remains with me, as that bag of pennies (or halfpennies) made me feel like a king. My other memory is sitting on a wall with a huge bag of chips, smothered in salt and vinegar that was shared by all us kids. Then on the way home each kid was given a piece of fruit and a slice of fruit cake.porthcawl and bread rolls
As kids in wales we would go to the very same Porthcawl, where the family had a caravan. I think it had been bought as a co-operative with other family members. It was a huge blue thing, I say huge, I was only a small child so who knows. It seemed like a huge caravan to me back then.
We would spend our days like any child, whiling the days away. We would fly our plastic kites; I had a black one with a scull and crossbones on it. Now and again we would be lucky enough to be able to hire a tandem bike or go cart, build sandcastles, swim in the sea or just play away the day doing whatever. We were kids of the 60's, life was an adventure and we always found something to do, we were always doing something, we were never bored.Most mornings we would have bread rolls for breakfast. These were fantastic. They came from a bakery on the caravan site. They had this most wonderful, super crisp, brown crust to them with a flavour I can still taste today. I suppose they were a bread roll version of a French stick. We ate them slavered with butter; thick, beautiful, tasty butter and maybe a smear of jam. My elder sister or I would be sent, pennies in hand to get a paper bag full of them. Mmmmmmm, carrying them back the bag clutched to our chests, the bag warm from the freshly baked bread, that wonderful aroma of freshly baked bread enticing us. I couldn't wait to get back and have breakfast.
In the summer the air is just filled with all those familiar seaside aromas, of seaweed, fish and chips, candy floss being made, suntan lotion and drying sand.
As with many UK seaside resorts, there was always plenty of vendors selling cockles, mussels, whelks etc and pints of prawns. Quite literally a pint glass filled with prawns. My favourite was always cockles. You could stand there and eat them at the vendor's stand form a little plate and a wooden fork. Or take a little bag of them away to eat on the go; the bag always soaked in a combo of the cockle's juice and the malt vinegar you had just drowned them in. I love these little sweet, seafood gems made into a creamy chowder.
recipe - cockle chowder
050 gm butter
050 gm flour
001 pc onion
001 pc carrot
001 pc celery stalk
001 pc potato (large)
500 gm fresh cockle meat
500 ml stock (fish or chicken)
250 ml milk
250 ml double cream
recipe - method of preparation
Melt the butter over a low heat and add all the vegetables cut into small dice (about the size of the cockles). Allow to cook gently for 3-4 minutes. Add the flour and stir in gently.
Slowly add the stock and milk while stirring. Add the cockles with any juice and the cream and simmer until the vegetables are cooked (approx 15 minutes). Serve with a good, crunchy crusted bread.
note - I like to finish mine off once in the bowl, with a pile of nori on top; sheets of nori, cut into thin strips and lightly toasted in the oven with the bread as its warming
This photo is myself and mum on her last ever visit.
butlins
We would also, after the caravan was sold I would presume, go on holiday to Butlin's in Minehead. What a wonderland that was for a child. For those not in the know, Butlin's is a uniquely British holiday camp. It was an affordable get away from it all, family holiday.
- you stayed in chalets. Nothing flash, just a basic motel room really. Where mum and dad stayed in one and us kids in our own room/chalet next door. Each chalet was equipped with a built in speaker, that would crackle on and camp wide announcements made; when meals were being served, what entertainment was on, when and where or if a lost child had been found etc.
- there was organised events and entertainment for kids, bingo for the oldies, disco's for the younger one's or young at heart, there was talent competitions for all ages, there were treasure hunts for the kids (led by a redcoat dressed as a pirate that we delighted in pushing into the swimming pool, beauty contests ...... and all organised and looked after by the glamourous redcoats
- it has its own fairground where the rides were free (built in to the cost of your holiday)
- redcoats, were the entertainment staff who always seemed glamourous people, tanned, good looking and smart in their white trousers/skirts, white shirts and tie and the infamous red blazer. Many well known UK entertainers started their career as redcoats
http://www.butlins75.com/slideshow.html
And we ate in vast dining halls. There were three as I remember, all named after close by places. I think we always seemed to be in the Gloucester dining room. You were assigned a dining hall on arrival, a table number for the week and what sitting you were; there were two sittings per hall. There was no way you could miss your sitting as the whole camp was informed what sitting was available and when over the camp wide tannoy system. Morning campers .......The meals were served en mass by waiting staff, they brought the whole tables dishes at once. There was no choices, except for like it or lump it. But I never recall having to lump it, as can be seen by my chubby little face in this pic; that's me on the right, aged about 10. Mind you, those were the days, when you ate whatever was put in front of you with no arguments or you just went hungry.
Breakfast was always cereal, followed by a cooked breakfast. That was always piping hot; sausages, bacon, tinned tomatoes or whatever was on for that day. With large stainless steel pots of tea put on the table, that was the only thing to drink for us kids apart from water.
I don't remember lunches but dinners were usually a soup followed by a main course and dessert. For some reason it was the soups that I vividly remember
- The soup was, I presumed, mass produced tinned / dehydrated product. Cream of tomato, oxtail, a thin vegetable, always served with a bread roll and butter.
- The main course was the typical meat and two veg
- Then there was the always eagerly awaited dessert. Apple pie and custard is the only one I recall
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