OUR first family holiday was to Butlin’s Holiday Camp in Clacton in 1950.

I was three when we first went and we followed it up by spending our next six holidays there.

When we arrived at the camp, we were given our chalet key and badge and met the redcoats – “Hi-de-Hi!” - who were mostly young entertainers, a number of whom went on to become famous.

I can remember seeing the young comedian Jack Douglas and the singer Michael Holliday before they went onto bigger things.

We were allocated to one of the ‘houses’ of which there were two, Gloucester and Kent.

The idea of being in a house was that every time you entered any of the sports and games you could win points for your house and, at the end of the week, the house captain with the most points would receive the trophy for that week in a special ceremony.

But it wasn’t just normal sports that could win you points because this was also the era of the knobbly knees and the glamorous grandmother competitions.

We would go and watch these events though we never took part.

Dad wasn’t one for exerting any effort on holiday and used his week away for relaxing.

But he did like watching what he called the ‘all-for-its’.

These were the people who went in for absolutely everything: the football team, the cricket team, the table tennis, the knobbly knees, the spaghetti eating. You name it, they were in it.

They knew how to enjoy a holiday!

I used to enjoy going to the free funfair, where my favourite ride was the ‘Peter Pan’ railway with its little engines wending their way round a twisty track.

There was a miniature railway that went all the way round the camp, which was another very enjoyable ride.

I also have fond memories of the swimming pool with its sparkling blue, white and cream coloured fountain, so cool on a hot sunny day as, of course, every day was in everyone’s childhood.

Oh yes, there has never been another holiday quite like my six wonderful years at the Clacton Butlin’s!