Why I Reckon Whitby Folk Week is Like Butlin's, Circa 1946

Whitby Folk Week is like a folkies' take on the old fashioned holiday camps.

This is meant in good fun and it may seem controversial to most lovers of folk music and dance(!), but on my first ever visit to Whitby Folk Week this August I couldn't help seeing the comparisons with J.A.R Pimlott's visit to Butlin's at Clacton in 1946.

Part of the schedule Pimlott noted in 1946

With so many activities and entertainments on throughout the week, everything has to be kept to a tight schedule. After purchasing my programme I was able to browse carefully through the itinerary and get an idea of what was on. It was then that the comparison with Butlin's struck me.

Part of the Whitby Folk Week programme

Butlin's 1946: 10am Games and Exercises.

Whitby 2015: 10am Dance workshop.

I took part in a few Longsword workshops. Not a style of dance I'm used to, so it was refreshing to not only get some exercise, but also to focus on learning something new for 90 minutes in the morning.

Butlin's 1946: 11.15am Kiddies' fun.

Whitby 2015: 10am Playtime for children.

Butlin's 1946: 8.30pm Campers' concert.

Whitby 2015: 8pm Concert / or Marathon singaround.

Butlin's 1946: 9pm Ballroom dancing.

Whitby 2015: Evening ceilidhs.

Some of the latter are 'themed' at Whitby Folk Week and fancy dress is encouraged, adding to the raucous seaside atmosphere. This years theme was 'gold'.

Visitors to the Gold Ceilidh

Butlin's 1946: Knobbly Knees contest.

Whitby 2015: A close competition between some of the North West and rapper teams in 2015!

Newcastle Kingsmen

The location by the North Yorkshire coast also gives festival goers the opportunity for time out to take a paddle, a moorland walk (not unlike the organised amble at Butlin's in 1946), and to take part in the cultural practices of the British seaside, such as eating ice creams and fish and chips.

One of the teams pretended to be on a roller coaster ride during the parade

The Whitby hotel, Rosa, has the Butlin's motto hanging in the cafe (also a Shakespeare quote!)

On the Thursday there was an hilariously lighthearted North West dance contest in which four teams competed to raise their knees the highest, dance in straight lines and race a relay, wolfing down a pork pie between runs. The winning side (the Newcastle Kingsmen) won a golden clog for their efforts and performed a victory dance for the watching crowds. It was pure holiday camp. 

Here's a link to a video of the North West Contest

Further reading:

Pimlott, J.A.R (1975 reprint), The Englishman's Seaside.

Atkinson, Sally, (2015) Whitby Folk Week, 50 Years and Counting.

The Story of Children's Television Exhibition

Mr Spoon from Button Moon

This Summer I visited 'The Story of Children's Television' exhibition at The Herbert museum in Coventry.

A nostalgia trip for most of the adults attending, this exhibition covers the years 1946 to the present, and will hopefully tour the UK after September for other people to appreciate. Here are some of the exhibits I enjoyed:

One of the Wooden Tops

Little Ted and Humpty from Playschool - the latter designed by Kristin Baybars,
a  woman I've met, and whom I greatly admire

Finger Mouse from Finger Bobs

A cat, which I did not recognise, from before my time

Lenny the Lion toy

Ali Cat being un-PC and performing with a cigarette on one of the video screens!

A selection of 1980s toys

Battle Cat from Masters of the Universe

Familiar faces from Dramarama

Gordon the Gopher wearing a jacket that Adam Ant had given to him

Pob - the puppet who used to controversially spit at the TV camera, then wipe it off

One irresistible attraction was to dress up as a favourite character and appear behind a giant TV screen...

Hammer Archive, Demontfort University

The Hammer Archive at DMU provides a great insight into the life of many of the Hammer films via the development of their scripts. Not only are there a treasure of unrealised projects housed on the archive shelves, but a quick glance through some of the screenplays here reveals how scripts can change when films go into production.

For example, I had a look at the script for Holiday on the Buses (1973) and found that the final scene in which Stan Butler finds employment on a demolition site was originally to show him laying tarmac on a road.

Whilst there I also had a look at screenplays for Straight on Till Morning (1972), Demons of the Mind (1972) and an unmade gem I forget the name of, but it came across as a terrible misfire somewhere between Tom Jones (1963) and Carry on Dick (1975). Wish I could remember what it was called, (perhaps it was The Haunting of Toby Jugg) but maybe it will feature as part of a proposed script reading / recording that Dr Matt Jones of DMU mentioned to me.



The archive which mostly consists of screenplays (at various stages of the films' production including shooting scripts) plus some publicity material, is open for public access dependent on staff availability and the academic timetable. It is certainly a great resource for all horror buffs and British film researchers.