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HistoryIn 1968, some of the young people of the church had the brain-wave of taking children from deprived homes in Birmingham, on holiday to the sea-side: and they made it happen! Eileen Robinson writes: “I stood ironing one cold December afternoon – husband at work, baby asleep and ‘Woman’s Hour’ my only companion. The item on the radio that caught my attention talked of youngsters in the inner cities of this country having never seen live farm animals, never having played in the sand or been bowled over by the sea. Their only knowledge of these pleasures had been via picture books, the cinema or, in some rare cases, from the television. Impulsive by nature, my immediate thought was “we must do something about this!” – notice the “we”. “I had spent most of my teenage years in the company of a close-knit group of friends, many of whom I had come to know through the Sunday School or Youth Club of Wylde Green Congregational Church… These were the people I contacted that afternoon, being so fired with enthusiasm that I had them tannoyed across factory floors, summoned from TV studios and interrupted in meetings to arrange for 11 of us to meet a couple of evenings later”. In the early days, the group had to use their own time and money. Accommodation had to be located and rented, and the children, food, games and extra clothes transported in members’ own cars to the chosen holiday resort. In 1969, six children were given a holiday in this way.
In the years since OLIVER ’68 bought the house, members have given their time, and made enormous efforts, to ensure that the decorations and facilities are of the very highest quality. In 1993, the 25th Anniversary of OLIVER ’68, a coach-load of people from the church were able to see for themselves this beautiful house, and some of the attractions on offer in the surrounding countryside. After this outing, Marjorie Brindley wrote: “The picture I’d had in my mind for years, of a small cottage in the middle of nowhere, vanished. In its place appeared a large house, into which a lot of thought and hard work had been put for the comfort of the children. Nice bright bedrooms, a playroom, dining room and sitting room, also of course comfortable bedrooms for the helpers.” But to get something of the real flavour of an OLIVER ’68 holiday, let us quote – first from those early days: Sylvia Ellis writes: “Having come back from playing in long grass in the adventure playground, I sat the children round the edge of the bath to wash their legs. One little girl – about 8 – asked what it was, so I explained the bath’s function and asked if she’d like to have a bath. “Oh yes”. So while I ran it, I told her to go and get ready. The next time I saw her she had got undressed and put on a swimming costume form the ‘magic box’ [ a collection of clothes taken along for the children’s use]”. From the log of a more recent helper: “Tuesday: Late to bed. Early to rise! This had better not continue. All of Tawelfan was up and breakfasted by 9am (and most of Llwyngwril too, from the noise we made!) We decided these children needed a few long walks to wear them out, so it was off to Dolgoch Falls. To add another dimension, we caught the little train from Abergynolwyn to Dolgoch. Great excitement. Kristopher spent the whole journey trying to see what would happen if you opened the door! Clare finally managed to get through to him that this was not a good idea. The waterfalls were as good as ever, and the enthusiasm and energy of the children meant that walking up was a pleasure. However, they did try to climb up through the middle of the waterfall, so we are now back where we started – with twelve WET WELLIES! Still, they had great fun. We had lunch at the Corris Craft Centre, where the playground went down a treat, followed by a ride in an underground boat through King Arthur’s Labyrinth. After tea, Jo investigated why so many were scratching their heads… after treating four children and one adult for head lice, we rounded the evening off with a game of bingo.” Best of all are some of the children’s own impressions:
“We went to the sea and we got very wet but we weared stinky smelly boots so they kept us a bit dry.” The journey? “..it was a bit bendy when we got to Wales.” The food? “ ..the best bit was the turkey drummers. Nothing was the worst.” The house? “Brilliant!” It didn't quite happen in 2000, but Oliver ’68 will soon has provided holidays for over 2000 children! The ethos remains the same – several adults, and a few children: a real family holiday.
If you would like to help: There are working parties, to improve the house and gardens. You could be a helper, or even lead a holiday – training is given. You can support the work, either by helping on the committee, or financially. Contact: Laura Monk Oliver '68 is a Registered Charity 265840. |
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