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Authors: Eva Petulengro
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first ever holiday camp, in what was once a farmer’s field, housing his guests in
rows of chalets and providing food and entertainment for the sum of thirty-five shillings a week. The family must have been busier than ever that season, with the influx of holiday camp guests to
the Butlins amusement park, but they were coping with sadness too.
That year Naughty had suffered two strokes. It was hard for them to see this once vigorous man, with his twinkling eyes, laid low. Granny always said that she blamed the fact they had stopped
travelling for his illness. When they travelled, he walked for miles most days, had good food and lots of fresh air. Once they settled down, he seemed to start shutting down too.
On 27 June, Aunty Vera gave birth to her first child, a little girl. When he was told the news, Naughty asked that she be named Honour, after his mother. He died three days later from a third
stroke. He was only sixty years old.
He was buried at Gorleston cemetery, alongside other members of his family, and Granny chose a big white marble angel as his headstone.
His death was not something Granny talked about – she preferred to remember the many happy years they’d shared. But I can imagine how devastated she must have been and also how she
must have forced herself to stay strong for the sake of her family.
More change was on the way the following summer, when my mother met my father, Eddie Price. He was born in Nottingham in 1913. His father was a tailor and his mother died when he was young. Now
aged twenty-three, Eddie was his own man, without a care in the world. He was working at the Butlins amusement park, erecting the hall of mirrors, when, strolling through the crowds one day, he saw
a pretty girl standing by the entrance to Madam Eva’s palmistry booth, getting some sun while waiting for customers.
He took her by surprise when he tried to talk to her, and she immediately noticed something about him that she’d never noticed in anyone else before. Something intriguing, even
captivating. She felt herself blush and an urge came over her to talk to this young man to find out who he was. But, knowing she’d be in trouble if her brothers caught her, Mummy told him to
go away. Every day for three days he walked that way again, hoping to see her, but each day one of the other sisters was working there instead.
One evening he took himself off to the dance hall at the holiday camp and there, by happy coincidence, he found my mother again. She was with several of the travelling girls from the amusement
park and her eagle-eyed brothers, but there was no objection to her dancing. They spotted each other immediately and exchanged glances, so when the band struck up ‘I’ve Got You Under My
Skin’, my father seized his chance. He asked her for a dance and she agreed. Mummy tried to avert her gaze while she danced with him, but every now and then, when she thought he wasn’t
looking, she’d peek up at this stranger who had made such an impression on her. Eddie was an attractive man, resembling some of the South American heartthrobs she had seen in the movies. With
his slicked-back hair and his pencil moustache, he was obviously a bit of a lad, or so Uncle Nathan thought disapprovingly. Still, Mummy was having fun for what felt like the first time in her life
and she was determined to enjoy every minute of it.
My father did his best to monopolise her for the rest of the evening. He knew better than to go outside the grounds of what was right, but over the next few weeks he did manage to make himself
Mummy’s regular dancing partner. He tried to make friends with her brothers too, but they knew that he was carrying a torch for their sister and they went out of their way to discourage him
as much as possible. He was far too cocky for their liking and wasn’t even Romany, so anything more than a dance was out of the question.
Aware of this hostility, the couple managed to snatch a number of
rows of chalets and providing food and entertainment for the sum of thirty-five shillings a week. The family must have been busier than ever that season, with the influx of holiday camp guests to
the Butlins amusement park, but they were coping with sadness too.
That year Naughty had suffered two strokes. It was hard for them to see this once vigorous man, with his twinkling eyes, laid low. Granny always said that she blamed the fact they had stopped
travelling for his illness. When they travelled, he walked for miles most days, had good food and lots of fresh air. Once they settled down, he seemed to start shutting down too.
On 27 June, Aunty Vera gave birth to her first child, a little girl. When he was told the news, Naughty asked that she be named Honour, after his mother. He died three days later from a third
stroke. He was only sixty years old.
He was buried at Gorleston cemetery, alongside other members of his family, and Granny chose a big white marble angel as his headstone.
His death was not something Granny talked about – she preferred to remember the many happy years they’d shared. But I can imagine how devastated she must have been and also how she
must have forced herself to stay strong for the sake of her family.
More change was on the way the following summer, when my mother met my father, Eddie Price. He was born in Nottingham in 1913. His father was a tailor and his mother died when he was young. Now
aged twenty-three, Eddie was his own man, without a care in the world. He was working at the Butlins amusement park, erecting the hall of mirrors, when, strolling through the crowds one day, he saw
a pretty girl standing by the entrance to Madam Eva’s palmistry booth, getting some sun while waiting for customers.
He took her by surprise when he tried to talk to her, and she immediately noticed something about him that she’d never noticed in anyone else before. Something intriguing, even
captivating. She felt herself blush and an urge came over her to talk to this young man to find out who he was. But, knowing she’d be in trouble if her brothers caught her, Mummy told him to
go away. Every day for three days he walked that way again, hoping to see her, but each day one of the other sisters was working there instead.
One evening he took himself off to the dance hall at the holiday camp and there, by happy coincidence, he found my mother again. She was with several of the travelling girls from the amusement
park and her eagle-eyed brothers, but there was no objection to her dancing. They spotted each other immediately and exchanged glances, so when the band struck up ‘I’ve Got You Under My
Skin’, my father seized his chance. He asked her for a dance and she agreed. Mummy tried to avert her gaze while she danced with him, but every now and then, when she thought he wasn’t
looking, she’d peek up at this stranger who had made such an impression on her. Eddie was an attractive man, resembling some of the South American heartthrobs she had seen in the movies. With
his slicked-back hair and his pencil moustache, he was obviously a bit of a lad, or so Uncle Nathan thought disapprovingly. Still, Mummy was having fun for what felt like the first time in her life
and she was determined to enjoy every minute of it.
My father did his best to monopolise her for the rest of the evening. He knew better than to go outside the grounds of what was right, but over the next few weeks he did manage to make himself
Mummy’s regular dancing partner. He tried to make friends with her brothers too, but they knew that he was carrying a torch for their sister and they went out of their way to discourage him
as much as possible. He was far too cocky for their liking and wasn’t even Romany, so anything more than a dance was out of the question.
Aware of this hostility, the couple managed to snatch a number of
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