Hakkımda:
Dolphin Holiday Village was purchased by Sir Fred Pontin in 1961 along with sister camp St Mary's Bay & the nearby Wall Park. It became one of the original Pontins camps in the area. Based on a clifftop near Berry Head, Brixham in Devon, Dolphin was a lovely family orientated full board holiday place. With 331 chalets, some wooden & others brick built(some constructed uniquely), Dolphin was highly popular with families & adults alike. Offering excellent restaurant food & great entertainment for everyone it was an enjoyable place to visit. It was regarded as one of Pontins's best camps & there was even a yearly reunion club with many families meeting up at the same time each season. Sadly in February 1991 the main complex suffered a major fire, which destroyed the reception & ballroom area & badly gutted the restaurant/kitchen area, causing over 2 million pounds worth of damage. Although booking figures were as high as ever Pontins didn't rebuild the site. For years after the fire the camp was left boarded up & the site became derelict. It's believed because many chalets were so old a la Hi De Hi style, it was not feasable to rebuild the site & so Pontins were rumoured to have sold the land in 1995 to Manor Parks. Years passed by & a proposal arose to turn the site into sewage works. This was met with fierce protests from the locals & so the land remained unused. Until 2005 the derelict site was still there(and still owned by Pontins), the front gates were locked up, the complex partially fenced off, & the chalets all smashed in and burnt out. The land all overgrown & the remains of buildings were crumbling. Vandals and time passing destroyed what was left of great memories. As it stands today the former Pontins site has now been demolished and houses are being built on it. This MySpace page is for people who want to link up and chat about their memories of Dolphin. Whether you're an ex bluecoat, holidaymaker or cabaret act from the Dolphin we want you to add us. Long live Pontin's Dolphin!
Kimle tanışmak isterim: Any ex Dolphin bluecoats, staff and holidaymakers.
Yes, definitely the best ever! I first went to the Dolphin in 1964 and on a regular basis until our holiday was cancelled because of the fire. In the early days it was very Hi de Hi - but that was the beauty of it - so much fun! Weary travellers were greeted by the Bluecoat team. Adults given a complimentary glass of sherry and children, a soft drink. It was like a week long party especially in the evenings when the resident band played all evening and whipped up a party atmoshere - and we all joined in! It was waitress service in the dining room with a 3 course cooked meal for breakfast, lunch and dinner and the food was so nice! We readily accepted the forfeits that the Bluecoats handed out as 'punishment' for turning up late to a meal or whatever else they could think of! We didn't even care that there were no bathrooms in the chalets and that we had to pop over to the toilet/bathroom block - even if it was in the middle of the night!....it was just all part of the fun! And no TV's in the chalets. But it didn't matter - we were just so happy to be there! Great holidays and happy memories but sadly missed.
Definitely the best ever holiday camp. Had 5 superb holidays there between Sept 1985 and 1990. The bluecoats were great always enthusiastic and they always had the time to sign your autograph book or pose for a photo. I always had a crush on the females lol Amanda and Maria to name a couple. In fact the bluecoats were even polite enough to send you the odd letter after you’d returned home from your holiday. It was full board and you’d go in the morning and there would be plates of full English breakfasts ready for you to pick up and you could even tell the staff what you wanted and they would serve it there and then. There were bowls of cereal ready with milk cartons. For lunch there were the biggest ploughmans salads you’d ever seen and sweets galore. For evening it was more of the same great value food and you could go back for seconds no questions asked. The food was so filling though that you really didn’t need seconds anyway lol. The chalets were very basic and Hi De Hi ish but I guess that’s what made Dolphin so nice. It really was a great family place and is sorely missed. Chris.
