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RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: october 2014 :: RMTnews
28
It is a little known fact that the
socialist and trade union
movement in this country
invented the British holiday
camp for the working classes.
Holiday camps came into
their own after workers and
their organisations successfully
fought for the right to paid
holidays around one hundred
years ago.
By 1930 health workers
organised in NALGO followed
the miners and other groups of
workers and searched for a
holiday camp of their own. The
winning proposal was put
forward by WG Augur, a
sanitary inspector from Camden
Town.
The previous year he had
fallen in love with a remote area
of North Devon called Croyde
Bay. The union made the bold
decision to buy a plot for
£12,000 close to the surf-
washed, sheltered beach and it
has been a holiday destination
for trade unionists and their
families ever since.
This beautifully illustrated
booklet tells the fascinating
story of how workers mucked in
to build their own little bit of
holiday Jerusalem to spend their
summer break. They developed
their own culture including
nicknames, songs, cabarets,
games and tournaments which
forged lifetime bonds and
brought holiday makers back
year after year.
Before Beeching decimated
Britain’s rail network most
campers arrived by train and
very few used cars which the
heightened the peaceful nature
of Croyde Bay.
Today the nature of
holidaying has changed, with
the advent of foreign travel and
less community-oriented
activities. The open air
swimming pool is now covered
and heated, the new hotel and
self-catering chalets are far less
spartan and the food on offer
far more varied.
Croyde Bay now has
conference facilities as well and
RMT bus workers have already
held their grades conference
there. Despite these changes,
Croyde Bay still provides a safe
environment for fun family
holidays with a trade union
ethos.
Moreover, while times
SEA, SAND AND
SOLIDARITY
New publication
tells the story of
Croyde Bay, one of
the oldest
trade union holiday
centres in Britain