Holimarine Holiday Camp ‘Micky is Magic’ Badge

As a child, we used to spend a week every Summer in a caravan, usually on a Holimarine Holiday camp.

I’m not sure why we chose this particular company over all the other rival holiday camps. I know though we were a family of limited means. In the late 70’s my Father quit his stressful sales job and took up a position as a village milkman, which meant he couldn’t bankroll expensive foreign trips. Instead, we would spend a week in a metal caravan in either New Quay, Wales, or Hopton on Sea, courtesy of Holimarine.

We went there every summer of the early 80’s, and I couldn’t have been happier. It was at Holimarine in Wales that I bought this collectors badge, from the children’s entertainer. What I can remember about Micky is that he had glasses, a mop of curly ginger hair, and a gigantic puppet rabbit that he used as part of his act. ‘You seem to remember a lot‘, I hear you cry. Well, there’s a reason. I have a photo.

That is quite some puppet, I’m sure you’ll agree. It’s worth noting that I’ve cropped the picture to the left to remove myself. As a 10 year old I stood proudly next to Micky. You may notice that not only is Micky wearing a ‘Micky is Magic’ badge, but so is the rabbit.

Micky also judged a fancy dress contest that week, where my intepretation of a seagull (fashioned from toliet paper and pieces of cardboard) earned me second prize. I have a photo of this as well, which I’m not uploading, only if Micky asks me directly. I have to wonder what he (and the rabbit) are up to these days – whether he’s still an entertainer, or followed a more sombre career path. Google has no idea, so I guess I’ll never know. Needless to say, I wish him health and happiness.

In later years we went to Holimarine at Hopton on Sea. I was so happy there. My parents would sit on the beach all day and I was given free range to roam the site, playing in the arcades and generally making a nuisance of myself. Me and my cousin would rent a Surrey Cycle and pedal round camp. Here is a photo I found on the internet of the Hopton site, which is exactly how I remember it.

In the evenings, we would go to the entertainment complex. We’d sit as a family unit, trying to make our drinks last all night, hoping to get a bag of crisps or some whelks from a man who would pass from table to table. Some nights, there would be a ‘Razzle Dazzle Disco’, and we would dance to ‘March of the Mods‘, very much like in the video in the link. I have a vivid memory of a dance floor festooned with balloons, some of which had two pence pieces inside. I stomped around, trying to release their treasure for the arcade next door.

The entertainments were hosted by a man called Spencer K Gibbins, and I’m pleased to discover from Google that he’s still very much alive, and in show business to this day. It’s a mark of his powers that I still remember his name. When the holiday was over I used to lie on my bed, looking at the leaflets I’d collected during that week, wondering what Spencer was up to on stage back in Hopton. I thought he was the most amazing performer, lively, funny (but never blue), and utterly charming. What shocks me is how young he must have been, barely in his 30’s, not much older than my Dad at the time. Google tells me that when not at holiday camps, he used to tour with Sooty. Lucky Sooty.

We stopped going to Holimarine in the mid 80’s. By then I’d gotten too old for the arcades and entertainment. One year, we went the same week they showed sci-fi drama V on the television, and I stayed in the caravan every evening glued to the telly, much to my family’s dismay. By the time I was at sixth form, my parent’s financial fortunes had changed, and they went abroad for their holidays, without me and my brother.

But those Holimarine holidays were magical. The company doesn’t exist anymore, bought out in the 90’s, and there is little trace of them on the internet. There is this wonderful advert, but little else.

I’d be surprised if I paid for the ‘Micky is Magic’ badge. I imagine it was bought for me. But it is a great momento of a happy children holiday, and for that reason, I can’t imagine a reason why I’d ever throw it away.