From the old we travel to the new!
Who remembers those mops and buckets in the showers, the piped music in the loos, the triangular JCloths at every sink? Who recalls when campervans and motorhomes were so rarely encountered on sites they caused much comment and interest. Who remembers waving to every caravan you passed on the road before arriving at site and those Caravan Club pendants flying in most van windows. Who remembers the obligatory fire buckets place by the Jockey wheels of all caravans on site. Any memories of sites now long gone? Happy days! Any other nostalgic recollections, folk?
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We go back further than that with the gas mantles, metal single glazed 'flat' windows and a foot pump on the floor. We do still put out a 'FIRE' bucket - just habit.
Does anybody out there remember Captain Boon? We first encountered him at the Southport Site when he checked your noseweight and took you to your pitch on a moped. He scared the life out of us youngsters and we arrived at York some time afterwards only to find he'd moved there.
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Yes, I too recall those, Jill. I remember my dad reminding us not to touch those unlit mantles and the condensation they caused on those glass windows when lit on cold days. Oh, and the pedal pumped water from a bucket outside, basically a rubber bulb you trod on.
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Memory is not what it once was and these are certainly relatively recent ones but I do have a vague recollection of a CC site at Lady Cross near Egton, also one at Market Rasen racecourse.
The memory of that distinct hiss and smell issuing from the gas lighting is so evocative alongside music coming from that old ‘Tranny’ radio, Programmes like ‘Sing Something Simple’ to listen to on those wet days. Such fun!
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I can remember all of those mentioned above, and caravans with solid wooden floors, "bucket and chuckit" loos too.
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I remember as a 13yr old, sitting on the Elsan bucket in our toilet tent in a howling gale, and desperately hoping that I could get the business done before it took off.
Mum using an 'oven' that sat on top of the gas burner, and having to scrape ice off the inside of the windows in the morning
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The first caravan we had in the late 80's had a separate "bathroom"; however, it just contained a sink, no shower and no toilet. We had to buy a PortaPotti! Once we got a "posh" caravan a few years later (early 90's) it had a toilet and we sold our PortaPotti for £10
I also remember the foot pumps and gas mantles, and the single glazing, complete with condensation. No blown air or Alde heating, just a gas fire.
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You had a gas fire! That’s really modern.
Ours had no fire, no tap and just two gas rings and grill. No toilet, no nuffin - not even a gas locker.
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The future Mrs C on the left, she tells me her bunk, which was really just a stretched canvas on two poles, was next to a window, in the morning her sleeping bag would be wet where it touched the glass windows.
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That was a modern caravan in the 60/70s, Corners. A Sprite and it might have been a Sprite Major. The car reg is 1966.
There is a caravan just visible in the bottom left of your pic a bit similar to our 1949 Bluebird.
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Cheers. 👍
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Some sites didn’t even have electric hook ups.
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There was a club site in Keswick, Walker park, just before the CCC site.
Some 'lost' sites can be seen here
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Kielder, I’d forgotten about that one. The most midge infested experience I’ve had and we’ve been North of the border many times but this English site won hands, neck, ankles and face down! Beautiful setting it would have been today though in order to view the ospreys mind!
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Our caravan still has a gas mantle🤣 And no cassette toilet. Solid as a rock, last time it saw a dealer was in 1996 as we waved goodbye. Swish though, we do have a very good bathroom, shower, good heating system. I also suspect we might be able to sell it for more than we bought it for some 28 years ago. We did sell on our other old classic at a bit of profit. I love old vans with character.
Most regrettable thing about the Club? The demise of most of the lovely no facility sites and racecourse sites. The Club has lost so much of its uniqueness nowadays sadly.
Marazion didn’t have hook ups first time we stayed. I don’t think Killin did either.
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We bypassed Kielder, knew about the midges. 1984, Hexham Racecourse, one of the Trax Affiliated Sites. We also used Wetherby, and Market Rasen Racecourses around same time.
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Braithwaite Fold is back under the ownership of the Caravan and Camping Club and now known as Bowness on Windermere Campsite.
We stayed there in January this year in the very cold snap. Most standpipes were frozen.
The CCC also has a site located between Kendal and Windermere and another site just outside Kendal.
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My first van was a Swift Pirouette - bought new in the early 80's. I've looked for some pictures on the net but all I can find are images of some very sad ones rotting in the corner of a field! I think that one had gas mantles as well and I don't remember being dependent on that orange umbilical like we are now.
What I do remember is that when it was just over a year old - and just out of warranty (!!), it developed damp in the bathroom (so damp isn't a new thing). Since we lived about 5 miles away from the factory, I rang them and told them what had happened and without hesitation - and with profuse apologies - they offered to have the van back over winter to remove the whole rear panel and reseal it. It wasn't even inspected beforehand!
That's what customer service used to be like
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No microwave or even an oven in the first caravan. Most meals were cooked in pans but we did have a sort of toasting thing comprising of two handles and a metal clamped container in which both savoury and sweet hot sandwiches were cooked over the one gas ring. Very tasty!
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Our first caravan was an Eccles Topaz, it had a vinyl roof. Only 1 gas mantle, no toilet just a bucket with lid, 2 ring hob and a folding tap which was foot pump operated. The rear 4th bunk was canvas stretched on 2 poles. Single glaze windows with metal frames. We bought it in 1980 2nd hand. After just a few months we were posted to Germany and took it with us. OH not only installed 12v electrics he also fitted mains electrics. We also bought a portal pottie.
Brilliant van took us to Italy 3 times and Denmark twice before we sadly had to part company with it.
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