England

The first week of our visit in England I stayed in Ilkley by guestparents, because this holiday wasn’t a vacation we made with the whole family. I traveled to England as a senior of "De Mohicanen", my scoutinggroup and my parents also made a trip to England during the same period, but stayed in Harrogate.

After traveling by boat from Hoek van Holland to Harwich, we had to travel further with a bus to Ilkley. That was another 6 hours drive in a not a very comfortable, English, bus so we were all very glad that we finally arrived in Ilkley. There the guestparents were waiting already. My friend and I stayed together by the family Twigden. They had a son, Jeremy, and an older daughter, Hilary. Their house was very lovely with a big garden. We became the masterbedroom. Very sweet.

Of course, we also made some trips with the family and with some other scouts or the whole group. The English scouts were very friendly and had a lot of things organized for us.

On one of our trips (on July 21, 1975) we went to "Leeds". They dropped us there to give us time to visit the city ourselves. The only "bad" thing of these, organized, trips for the whole group, was the fact that we had to wear our uniform all the time. And it was so very hot! Very frustrated when you see other people walking around in just a T-shirt and you have to wear a shirt and trousers that are more made for the winter then for the summer. But those are the rules and you know that.

On another day, the family Twigden and I visited "Skipton" to watch the castle there. It’s a very old one as they have more of these old castles in whole England.

Every evening, all the seniors came together at a bar. I’m not really a bar type. I joined them some nights, but most of the time I just stayed at home by the Twigden family, reading a book or watching TV.

Some days later, we traveled with the family to "Harrogate" to visit my parents. That was great. Not only for my parents to see me, but for the family Twigden as well so they got to know my parents.

On Thursday July 24, 1975 we al went to "York". In the museum we visited, we lost our leader and we decided to visit the city then on our own. There were some English Seniors with us as well, so it couldn’t get wrong. Don’t know or the man or woman (don’t remember that anymore) was scared to death when he realized he lost us, but I can imagine he was. We never heard something about the accident afterwards anymore.

At the end of the week in Ilkley, there was a special evening in Kingshall on Friday July 25, 1975. The seniors sang some songs like Ben Rhyding Town.

Earlier that Friday, I went with the family Twigden to the "Brimham Rocks" in Nidderdale. These stones were incredible and looked like a dog or a cat!

Saturday July 26, 1975, we had to say goodbye to our guestparents and friends we made during the week with a lot of tears and sadness in our hearts. We all had such a wonderful week over there. All the scouts traveled together then by bus to "Goathland" for a week camping. The camps of the girl- and boyscouts laid far away from each other, but we as seniors, camped mixed. I guess, that was a real experience for the English Seniors, because they weren’t used to it.

On Tuesday, I received a letter from my parents. Something very amusing happened on Saturday! On that day, they made a trip trough the highlands and crossed…..Goathland! They saw one of my seniorleaders sitting on a hill! My parents were so excited that they yelled it through the bus and everybody started to wave. My leader waved back, but didn’t recognize my parents. No wonder, we never expected them there. When I told him the news later he said to me: "I thought, what a strange people in that bus. They are yelling and waving. Now I know why". Wasn’t that a coincidence?

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday there was a hike organized for the seniors. Because I hurt my ankle very badly the year before (on the first day of my schoolcamp) and still had problems with long distances to walk, I was permitted to sit in the car during the day that brought the entire tents etc. to our next location. In the meantime I took care of some food etc. A day before the hike started one of my Dutch friends hurt her ankle as well so we were dropped together in "Scarborough" and we had the whole day then to do things for ourselves. The leaders drove from one hiking group to another to see or there were no problems.

The hike wasn’t such a big success. After 3 days, there were 5 people sick (all girls). No wonder. We hardly got enough food to eat! The first day of the camp, they even forgot that there were seniors around that wanted some food too. We camped some miles away from the juniors and we had to pick up our food every morning there. During the first weekend we even eated spagetthi for breakfast, because there was nothing else. Luckily, it went better after a couple of days. You must realize, that we (as seniors) had to pack the busses in and out with all the tents, luggage’s and so on, very hard when you don’t eat that much. I can tell you that. No wonder that almost every senior was sick after the camp (even the English ones).

During the hike we camped in "Robin Hood Bay" and near "Sandsend". And then we returned to Goathland again. We also visited, "Whitby" during our hike.

Saturday August 2, 1975 we left Goathland and said goodbye to our English friends before we drove with all the Dutch scouts to "London" for another 3 days visit. In London we stayed at the "Baden Powell House". Oh boy, it was so very very hot in London! And we had to wear our uniforms again. It looked like we were cooking ourselves and all the people who were looking at us!

Sunday August 3, 1975 we visited some interested things in London and walked to the "Tower Bridges", which we visited the next day. We had the whole Sunday for ourselves and nobody was watching us, so we dropped most of the things of our uniform. But we had to wear our Scouting shirts and trousers. We had to cleanthem when we got home later that evening. They were soaked.

On Thursday (August 5, 1975), we left England and drove back home by boat. This time we had the "St. Edmund". This boat was more comfortable as the "Queen Wilhelmina" we had on our trip to Harwich was. Almost everyone got seasick the first time. Mostly because we got some pills to avoid it!

At 8 o’clock, we were back in the Wigwam. My parents came back some days earlier. They traveled with a big boat from Rotterdam and not from Hoek van Holland, with cabins and a lovely breakfast and dinner on board. My parents enjoyed their stay in England too and we had so much to tell each other.

During several years after my holiday, I kept in touch with the Twigden family. Writing letters and sending presents to each other with Christmas. Then I heard that Mr. Twigden died and that Hilary got married. Suddenly, we didn’t get an answer on our letters to them anymore. "Maybe" they moved away or even Mrs. Twigden died as well, we have no idea. But I still have the best memories about them and the one-week I stayed in Ilkley made us friends forever. I’ll never forget them.

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