Filey Butlins Pool within a holiday camp 1939
Above picture from “Thanks for the Memories” by Paul Wray
Filey Butlins Pool was Sir Billy’s 3rd site to be built.
Work on the camp started 1939 and then was requisitioned during the war. It was opened and into business for “The Campers” shortly after the war.
Remember “Sleepy Shores” that woke you up in the morning ? Other lovely tribute movies at the end of this post. (on U tube but skip ad!)
Sir Billy Butlin built fine lidos in his camps and this one was no exception.
Typical of the Butlins Interior Pools seen here at Filey
The Campers always looked forward to the weekly swimming and diving Competitions. Sir Billy Butlins sponsored many awards also, one of which was the Swimathon which continues today! The lidos hosted major events including the Welsh Centralised Swimming Championships.
A Tribute to Butlins on the 75th Anniversary – Click on film clip – by “We Are Butlins.” Also leads on to other wonderful movie archives
Throughout the camps, dotted around UK, the lidos were of similar and familiar design, especially the indoor pools. They drew crowds from the residents and day trippers […]
Read more…Clacton Pool another Butlins Camp
The lidos were bluer than blue with the familiar cascading fountains at either end. Frothy, bubbly, crystal, glistening water erupting from the top. Adding to the sublimity, well cared gardens and bathing lawns surrounded the pools, and it always seemed to be hot and sunny with everyone smiling.
OUTCOME: Personal account:
Compare this 2001 view of the Open Air Pool, the Indoor Pool and the Boating Lake with the top view. See post… will expand to full view
I found myself trekking over the former site of the Filey camp. It was a haunting experience emphasised by the howling whistling wind around the debris of this once wonderful camp. The Lido and indoor pool was a sorry sight. The ghostly remains of what once was.
It was as though bulldozers had just run straight down the middle, and the remnants (thousands) were left strewn around. Even the bed frames, mattresses crockery etc) The childrens area had just crashed to the ground with chunks of wall with lovely painted murals that had adorned them. The site of the Regency Ballroom was quite horrible, just a quagmire of mess and rubble, with the familiar Butlins lantern lights fallen all around, just left to rot.
One tries to see through all of this carrying an old camp map in hand in order to get the bearings of what once stood there, and thinking of the happy carefree days, and the hundreds of families and generations that had come to spend their holidays.
Derelict and smashed. It was an insult to this once paradise to have been left like this for approx 10 years, and one wonders why the site hadn’t been shown more respect and completely cleared at the time.
No-one wanted to remember Filey Butlins Pool in that state. You can see the outline of the building in which the indoor pool was encased. Also the sites of the once glistening fountains that spurted crystal dotted water that spilt over tiny tots having the fun of their lives.
D.Stuart…Photography
A wonderful pictorial ‘goodbye’ tribute to Filey Camp. Pictures taken just a year before I too discovered the ruins. 1999.
http://cambridge-photographer.co.uk/butlins-filey
AT LAST!
Filey Butlins Pool has at last been cleared along with all the other horrid debris. 900 luxury holiday homes occupy the site The Bay Filey Not quite the same but…”that’s better!”
Bye- Gone Butlins is another story of course, but click on this link for a devoted site on all Butlins Camps. Click onto the Butlins Story below.
MOVIE TIME
THE BUTLINS STORY a nostagic previously broadcasted video now on U-Tube by Ben Hughes and narrated by Lisa Tarbuck
…..and many more!
Also
A lovely film. 1947 Film starring Jack Warner, Flora Robson, Patricia Roc. “Holiday Camp” on utube Although some shots in Skegness, Filey Camp was used as the main location.
A scene from Filey Holiday Camp 1947. Introducing the British public to “The Huggets”
Will expand to full view. Butlins Site Filey.
I’m sure many of you have spent sunny days here. Never went personally until its demise.
…..Incidentally, I read your entry on Butlin’s at Filey with some interest. I worked there the summer I left school (1979). I don’t remember too much about the outdoor pool as I wasn’t allowed to use the facilities – for guests only! I do, however, have memories of arriving to find the camp surrounded by incredibly high wire fences, topped by barbed wire, and having to live in the far-from-luxurious staff accommodation – essentially tiny tin huts that had previously been used to house the military. There were two people to each hut, which contained two incredibly uncomfortable beds that were so lacking in width you couldn’t turn over and with mattresses that were so thin they hardly existed. Still, we had a lot of fun!