Rhyl - Coventry Co-op Holiday Camp

Some of you have mentioned that you went to the Coventry Co-op holiday Camp at Rhyl. Many Coventry people did from the 50's onwards. I think it's closed down now. Even Pete Waterman mentions going in the early 50's in an interview. i think you could save up via the Co-op divi.

Here's a couple of photos from summer 1963 when i was in the first year going on to the second year at Cleobury. The first is with my sister and my dad's green Austin van. Notice the snake buckle belt. They were popular at the time, cheap and available down the village.

Close up of the stripey elasticated Snake buckle belts.

Trev Teasdel  They weren't expensive, we bought them in the village somewhere on a Saturday. Looking at them now, I think they were a transition from braces before belts became more popular for jeans etc.

Peter Cobham  the other fashion item that comes to mind that we bought in the village.......Segs!

Trev Teasdel  Oh yes - metal heel protectors. We had those in the 60's as. Made sparks and good for all the walking we did at weekends, trudging up Clee Hill etc.

Paul Nicholas Williamson  Camper Johnson had segs on his shoes, never knew you called them segs,learnt something today.

Peter Cobham Think the trade name was "Blakeys"

http://www.blakeys-segs.co.uk/ More info on this site.

Peter Dawson  Still use them on my brogues.

Mick Gajic  I must be common,i called them STUD'S.

Trev Teasdel  Yes you are right - we did call them studs in our time but the make was the same I suspect.

Another view alongside a strap for those who broke the school rules!!

Raymond Bothwell   I've seen that a few times, along with a pump, tennis shoe and a good old fashioned cane! .lol do me any harm ???? no taught me to have a bit of respect,,

Trev Teasdel   Yeah but Raymond if you had all those a few times, did it really teach you to respect the rules lol! I suppose the bottom line was (bottom often being the operative word!), that you took a risk and knew what you'd get if you were caught, so if you got caught you accepted it. It didn't always mean that people didn't break the rules - far from it but I suppose it made you consider your options more and sometimes modify your behavior in the future. Raiding the staffroom was virtually a school 'sport' - the threat of corporal punishment didn't seem to deter many of them! Maybe it was more effective than being 'excluded' from school - which seems more like a free holiday. Perhaps another model might have been that which the 60's experiments with the original 'Free Schools' adopted whereby the pupils were involved in negotiating the 'rules' with the staff so they could see the reasoning and logic behind it rather than the coercive model. Obviously CCBS, although an educational experiment with working class education, wasn't modeled on the same principles.

Raymond Bothwell  Your spot on mate, i knew the risks, but was willing(most times) to accept the punishment, done me well after i left, quick learner, lol Also at my previous school they were VERY liberal with handing it out,

Trev Teasdel  At primary school, the headteacher (who was actually a former deputy head from Cleobury) was the only one allowed to use the cane. If there was a disciplinary situation, the teacher would send you to the head, who would use his discretion as to whether you should be caned or punished another way - eg lines. It minimised the risk of abuse of the system by individual teachers who might have been slipper happy for even minor offences. If you got the cane - you knew it was serious!

Raymond Bothwell  I went to Whitley Abbey , first, that's where most of the/my problems started, the teachers not up to scratch, and they knew it, so they seemed to single out individuals to take the blame for whatever went wrong in the lesson, sad but true, I'm not the only one, that's life , got to get on with it, happy days,