Touring caravans in the 1970s
As a child, I was used to having seaside holidays in static caravans, and when undertaking pilot training at Stapleford Tawney airfield aged 17 in the late 1960s lived in a caravan for several weeks, all of which gave me a taste for caravan living. The experiences which gave me a real interest in touring caravans was in the 1970s- I was a Cub Scout Leader, and used to attend the Wood Badge Reunion (for trained leaders) held at Gilwell Park near Chingford, Essex, each autumn. Most of us, myself included, took our tents to stay in, but in our group one leader had a small touring caravan that he, his wife and young daughter used for holidays, and brought it along to use as a social centre for our group in the evenings. It was relatively new, as I remember, but had gas lighting as well as cooking and heating- no ehus provided on the campsite. If there was a loo it would have been a porta potti. But I thought it was great, and thought, 'one day I'd like one'. Although circumstances meant that I did not get into caravanning with my own van until I was in middle age, when the opportunity arose, those memories made me go for it- and discovering that caravans now had more mod cons was great. No doubt a lot of 'senior' CC members who have caravanned for many years can remember using all-gas caravans.
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When my children were younger my mum bought me an old Sprite to put in a field she had in North Wales. Although it has electricity for the fridge, it still required gas lights. THe kids loved it and it was our version of a static caravan. It was a great
place to just escape during the holidays,plenty of room for the kids to run around. They loved it!0
