Filey - Butlins

Butlins Filey was the third site to be built.
Work on the camp started 1939 and then requisitioned during the war.
It was finished and opened for business and its “Holiday Campers” shortly after the end of the War.
Mr Butlin always built fine lidos and they were possibly the main

central areas of his Camps.
The Campers always looked towards the weekly Swimming and Diving Galas.
Sir Billy Butlin sponsored many Swimming Awards and the Swimathon still continues today.
The Lidos hosted major Swimming Galas, including Centralised Swimming Championships
Throughout the Camps, dotted around the UK, the Lidos were of similar and familiar design, especially the indoor pools. They drew the crowds from both resident guests and day visitors.

The Lidos were bluer than blue, with the familiar three tiered fountains situated at either end of the pools, with frothy crystal, glistening water bursting over their tops.   There were plenty of sun bathing lawns - and it always seemed to be sunny - surrounded by well tended gardens adding to the sublimity.
A visit to the Filey site to find it bulldozed and flattened,   and to walk around the last bits of remaining
decaying Lido with its hacked Indoor Pool lying at its side,   was a heart wrenching experience to say the least. One could only walk around the site with an old Camp map in hand in order to get the bearings of what once stood in the then cultivated acres,   to the now quagmire of waste land.
What memories!