Stories by Anne Knight
1997’s Holiday
Wareham Quay, Dorset
We arrived by train at Wareham and then got a taxi to the campsite.
Oh what a hot day, the heat was too much for me, so much so the Manager
said he would get a doctor. My reply was: ‘Perhaps I will get over it as
we both come from the North West.’ He then replied: ‘A lot of people
have upset tummies here because of the heat.’
We settled in at the campsite, having a meal late in the evening on our
first day. I was glad when it cooled down. We found that the buses ran
only every hour, if you missed one you waited around to make sure you
caught the next. Being me I’m used to buses running every five minutes
but not so in Dorset. From the holiday camp the bus ran either to
Swanage or Poole. Eric and I couldn’t get off between stages for fear of
missing a bus. You certainly had to be sure of the time tables. In Poole
there was a church where a high tide of years previous had left a mark.
I remember a thatched house half down with an old Massey Ferguson
tractor outside.
By Wednesday I couldn’t go out, the heat being too intense for me, so I
kept in the shade of the caravan. Eric went to Wareham while I was
resting, the sun is not my friend. I vaguely remember it was 90 degrees
in the shade. At 4.10 Eric’s cousin, Michael, picked us up and took us
to Maeve School where his wife was headmistress. The school was built in
the 1860s and the head of the school lived upstairs. Eric’s cousin took
us round the small school, they also had a Porto classroom, a lovely
playground plus a little pool, rather overgrown. The sky was a picture
postcard blue. Eric’s cousin and his wife took us to Lulworth Cove, it
was very beautiful. Smugglers used the caves many years ago. I bought
some cards while I was there as my film had run out and I had not
replaced it. We made our way back to the school to pick up the car,
ichael took us for a run to the Purbeck Hills. He told us about the
place. We then returned to his home and met his son Daniel and his
girlfriend. They both were going to the same university – Liverpool.
William, his brother, was living in America. We had a nice meal. Eric
was pleased to see his cousin, whom he had not seen for a long time.
Michael then took us back to the caravan site. We said goodbye as we
were very tired. A drink plus bed.
It was Thursday and we walked into Wareham, past the River Frome and
over a bridge, and arrived at a small market. People were looking at all
types of things – furniture, just old things. We then went into a small
hall where an auctioneer was selling potatoes and veg. All under the
hammer. Eric had a piece of apple cake and I had cinnamon toast.
We left to explore some more and went to the church where the effigy of
Laurence of Arabia lay. The story of the church was very interesting. We
then strolled through the centre of Wareham and did some shopping for
bread. I don’t know if the Teddy cafe is still there but in that year,
1997, we had a meal. Veg pie, creamed potatoes plus baked beans for me;
Eric had sausage with gravy, creamed potatoes plus peas and a cup of tea
followed by carrot cake. We never got to Christchurch but went to
Bournemouth instead. I went to Lilliput but walking was very tiring. We
then went to see Eric’s other cousin. She was very interesting as she
helped with my husband’s family history , including some photographs. We
had a lovely meal and met her family – lots of laughs.
Then it was time to return home to Stockport – the end of our holiday.