Memories of Mosney in the 1960's & 70's by Monica Flood Back
I'd like to share my Butlin's Mosney memories as I've enjoyed reading the others on the site so much.
I went to Butlins Mosney about 5 or 6 years in a row in the late sixties and early seventies. My then 5 year old niece won the fancy dress competition dressed as a litter bug; a very topical theme. she got a free holiday so we all trouped back the next year starting a long tradition that ended when I went to secondary school. We usually drove there and got terribly over excited in the car as the signs loomed up on the roadside. We sang "we're going to Butlins" over and over, tunelessly and now I wonder how the adults in the car could bear it. I loved Butlins as I never felt lonely there even on my own. My favourite place was the amusement park and my least favourite the boating lake; I was hopeless with oars.
I remember always getting lost and wishing I was really small so I could have one of those pink name and address labels pinned to my dress for redirection. I loved the Beaver club and fell in love with two redcoats called Noel and Patsy (written "Pasty" in my diary of the time). I had their autographs for years. The competitions were a source of conflict as although I loved the fancy dress one, my mother insisted I go in for the Junior Princess and I would grimace my way through the first round to ensure elimination. Incredibly, one year I got into the second round. I came second in the fancy dress the year we had a go at the new self catering block. I borrowed mops and brushes from a chalet maid, dressed up as a tired char lady with a sign reading, "My FAMILY enjoy self catering in Butlins". The following year I came third with a sign saying "Are you going to Butlins? Ye... Siam!" I was dressed in a vaguely oriental way with a bun and knitting needles hair do. I blame seeing The King and I for that one. Minutes before parading, my sign was stolen but retrieved by my older sister when spotted around the neck of a girl wearing a purple cloak. Who were you? The great thing that year was to be photographed with Rusty, a sort of royal princess red coat. I remember wondering how I could ever aspire to her perction and lovliness.
One memorable afternoon in the amusement park I went in quick succession on the Molly Whale, Noah's Ark, the hobby horses, the little boats that went round in a tank of water and about 6 other things that went around in circles. Then I went to the play ground and hopped on a whirling disc with bars to hold for balance. Suddenly everything went black and I regained consciousness lying quite far away in the sand pit having shot off the spinner when my inner ear had finally had enough.
Like other memories I have read, the doughnuts were sensational and I always respected the children's curfew and was in bed before the last strains of Goodnight Children had died away. Uncle Dick and Auntie Babs were there most of the years I went. My mother always opted for Tara in the dining room sittings as like me she wasn't an early riser. I really, really liked the little sweet shop which was basically a corridor - you went in at one end, chose all your sweets and exited at the back. I was more or less forbidden on pain of death to enter the penny slots gambling arcade thingy. "You don't need money to enjoy yourself in Butlins" my mother would say. Ahhh!
Monica Flood
