For hundreds of boys and girls from across Norfolk it was the first time they had left home… for an outdoor adventure.
We are talking “Costa Del” Trimingham where, I suspect, some of you reading will have enjoyed those summer camps with your friends in years gone by.
These were the days long before package holidays and when many people could only afford a few trips to the seaside – never mind staying there.
The camps at Trimingham on the North Norfolk coast were where many youngsters had the time of their lives. They may have been part of school groups or other youth organisations. Perhaps Scouts or guides or members of the popular Boys' Brigade.
Norwich Education Committee’s camp was a popular place for fun and games. And there was plenty to do.
Alan Thorpe tells us about the time he and his mates from Henderson School in Norwich in 1954 went camping at Trimingham when they were aged 12 and 13.
“We had several duties to perform helping out in the kitchen, making beds etc.,” he says.
“We were split into four groups of five. Nelson, Borough, Scott and Munnings. I was in Borough and we had a map given to us and had to plot our way around the countryside looking for village signs, names of pubs and churches,” Alan recalls.
“The first group back got some sort of prize. We cheated as we thumbed a lift back to the camp site in a van.
“The camp site was near a radar station with a huge scanner rotating and I’m sure it made a sort of humming noise which I thought sounded a bit creepy. It’s now been replaced by a dome which looks more like a large golf ball,” says Alan.
“I am the youngest of 13 in my family and this was my first holiday away,” he adds.
Happy days.
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