13th July 1985, What were you doing?

 What were you doing on July 13^th 1985? We were on holiday in Cornwall, we had arranged to go away with an old school friend of mine and his family. Dave and I had met again on the CB radio, he was Blue Max and I was Icebox. Dave was a bus driver for Ribble and in his spare time was a children entertainer and magician. His wife Margaret and their three kids had booked a caravan next to our and we were having a smashing time. Nathan was just turned six and Gaynor was to have her fourth birthday while we were on holiday. Both of families had our CB’s in the car and we had loads of fun on the way down keeping in touch with each other and the other drivers on the M6 and M5. It was glorious weather and I did loads of exploring around the countryside. I liked to get out early in the morning in my Austin Alegro and find a hill to try and get some distance copies on the CB. It was really fun speaking to all the different breakers. You could get copies from people all over the place and most of them were really genuine. You got the usual idiots playing music and swearing all the time but you learned to ignore them.

I like to try unsigned  road to the coast to see what was at the end and came across a little village at the end of a narrow steep drive called Trebarwith Strand. About halfway down the road was a sign advertising Cornish Piskies,  no that is not the wrong spelling. They are supposed to inhabit the country side and you have to greet them when you get to certain spots or bad luck will befall you.

 The road down to the village was at the bottom of a steep valley with trees and ivy growing on both sides of the cliff faces. At the bottom was a dead end on to a shingle and sand beach. The village consisted of about six houses, a pub, a cafe and a gift shop and was washed by waves that came from the Atlantic ocean. Surfers had found it and there were boards lined up on the beach. Around the corner of the cliff were caves that we could walk through and both families had loads of fun later when we all came down to the beach. There were rock pools and tidal pools for us all to investigate and I was able to show my two children loads of animals they had never seen before, just as my dad had done years before on the beach in north Wales. I still have some shells and stones on the window ledge in my office at home that I collected from that beach. We bought an inflatable dinghy and had a great time with the kids in the surf making sure that it was tethered and we were with them when they went into the sea.

The caravan site we were on was at a place called St Mabyn and it was only small with about twenty vans and a small pool for the kids to play in.

Saturday the 13^th of July was special because it was Live Aid at Wembley Stadium and we spent the day with the TV on, having a day around the van with bottles of beer and wine. The whole site seemed to have the same idea and it turned into a giant party. Someone had a barbeque going and others had sandwiches and pies, everyone really joined in the fun especially when Queen came on, the whole site was singing along with their televisions. Everybody screamed with laughter when  Bob Geldof was being interviewed and he swore live on tele. From midday through to late evening it went on with all the families getting together and enjoying themselves.

No one worried about the children staying up late because we were all on holiday and they would probably all have a lie in on the next morning.

One of the days out we had was to a place called Morwellham Quay, it is a dock on the river Tamar where a village has been recreated as it was in the 18^th century. All the staff dress in period costume and you can see them going about their daily tasks as you visit. There is lead mine with a narrow gauge railway and the big water wheel on the dock side. They even have a carriage ride up to the big house with great big cart horses pulling the carriage. It was a real experience for the whole family. I would recommend anyone to go and see it if they could. We visited a working dairy farm just outside Newquay and saw how they made butter and cheese on the site.

Funny but I don’t seem to remember any wet days at all while we were on holiday or do I have a selective memory.