Langbar, Yorks Dales.

[j.c.d.]

I was wondering if anyone else had ever been to Langbarr Camp which in the Dales somewhere between Ilkley and Addingham in the late 1940's ?. This was an ex. Army camp which seemed to be completely made of wood. this was supposed to be a Holiday Camp for Leeds children who could not get to Silverdale. I had the misfortune to be sent there twice. We assembled outside the Civic Hall on a Saturday in the School holidays around mid July and were taken by Bus to this Hell hole. Whoever had the idea of sending kids out into the countryside in the middle of summer, feed them Porridge and Jam and Bread must have had a twisted sense of humour. We fought the fly's in the morning over the porridge and the Wasps for dinner and at tea time. the dining room had no windows so the flyers had a field day.
After breakfast we went on a hike. the Instructor was a big man dressed in shorts and Hiking boots, we townies just had our usual one pair of shoe's. on rainy days we still went on a hike only this time the boss wore a long mackintosh and we wore our jacket and same shoes.
We walked miles every day and just when I thought it could get no worse he took us up to a place called Beamsley Beacon. it was bad enough climbing hills but once we got up near this pile of rocks the boss selected a boulder for each of us to carry up the side and put it on top. that day we were too tired to fight the wasps and very soon were in our holiday chalet, a wooden hut with iron bedsteads and a straw mattress.
A couple of days later this bloody tyrant took us out and showed us "Whingate Nick" this a slit in the very top of some hills and off we went once again trudging uphill.
I did hear that that sometimes girls went there but we never saw any. It cost five shillings each time and it was a long time before I forgave my Mother.
My theory is that maybe Leeds council were thinking that we might lose the Second World War and that we kids might as well get used to prison camp life under the Jack or Hiking boot

In later years when I had left school I was on the Beeston bus going home and as it stopped outside the Malvern cinema I saw the Stumfuhrer minus his hiking boots leaving a funeral directors (in which he was a partner) and as I rode up and down on the bus to work I toyed with the idea of murdering him but as the Capital punishment was still law I never did anything about it.
Certainly an episode I will never forget

[Johnny39]

j.c.d this subject has been touched on before but don't ask me in which category. I went to school camp as we called it at Langbar in the early 50's. I will always remember how we were paraded outside the hut on arrival and how so alone I felt, even though I was surrounded by schoolmates Much of what you say about the instructors is true, kicking seemed to be their favoured form of punishment it was short and sharp but whatever they chose to dish out we took. Yes we too went on the hikes to Beamsley Beacon, Whingate Nick (woe betide any boy that referred to it as Winnies nick), and Bolton Abbey, taking in the Valley of Desolation on the way. Girls did go too but we were not allowed to mix until the Friday night before we came home and a dance of sorts was organised. The strange thing was, when it came for time to return home, none of us wanted to leave. Did you receive a certificate at the end? Still have mine somewhere. By the way the meal we enjoyed most of all was goulash, don't ask me what was in it but after those treks I would have eaten a scabby dog with a side-salad. Great days.

[j.c.d.]

You memory is better than mine Johnny, it was indeed known as School Camp, I had a certificate "The League of Mountain Men" which I must admit went in the dustbin as soon as my Brother saw it and took the p.ss. Never had anything as exotic as Goulash but certainly came home hungry. you mentioned Tents, we slept 20 to a hut and the heat at night was stifling.

[Leodian]

Hi j.c.d.

This is a link to a related SL thread:- http://secretleeds.com/viewtopic.php?t=4228

[BLAKEY]

I seem to recall having to take a coach full of children to somehere in the wilds north of Ilkley and in the Beamsley area which fits this description, in about 1963/4. Would this be the place where the road was only just passable for a full size coach ?? - I remember having to let the children out at a "crossroads" (more like a country cross paths) where they walked away very slightly downhill to the left, while I had a bit of a job reversing into the junction and pulling out again to return empty to Leeds.
Pausing at a transport cafe in Brook Street Ilkley for a cuppa I mentioned where I'd been to a couple of chaps from a coal lorry (poor fellas as grimy as coal miners in those "heave the sacks off the lorry" days) and they practically couldn't believe what I said - "Tha's NIVVER managed to get up theeer wi' that !!"

[j.c.d.]

Help, as a relatively new comer how do I find out if a subject has been touched on before as I have now twice posted and it has been apparently mentioned in the past. also how do I post a new subject please, as I can only seem to be able to start one on "General" Thanks in anticipation.

[tyke bhoy]

Don't worry too much about having started a new thread. In answer to how to search.

At the top right of every page, adjacent to the banner pictures is a box with a red header containing "site search" in the middle of the white block below it is a text box initially containing the text "GoogleTM Custom Serach" into which you should type your search term(s). Then click on the blue button with the magnifying glass. The results open in a pop-up so you may need to accept pop-ups for this site. Langbar returned 6 results for me.

As for posting in a forum other than general chat, you need to be on the "home page" of the forum you want to start a new topic in and then click on the start new topic. The two easiest ways of getting to a forum home page are from the home page scroll below the list of recent topics and you will then see the forums broken down into their subdivisions. Click on the one as appropriate. Or at the bottom right of every topic thread page is a jump to box which defaults to the current forum. If you click the arrow a list of all forums appear (you will need to use the scroll bar on the list to see all). Select your forum and press go.

[j.c.d.]

Don't worry too much about having started a new thread. In answer to how to search.

At the top right of every page, adjacent to the banner pictures is a box with a red header containing "site search" in the middle of the white block below it is a text box initially containing the text "GoogleTM Custom Serach" into which you should type your search term(s). Then click on the blue button with the magnifying glass. The results open in a pop-up so you may need to accept pop-ups for this site. Langbar returned 6 results for me.

As for posting in a forum other than general chat, you need to be on the "home page" of the forum you want to start a new topic in and then click on the start new topic. The two easiest ways of getting to a forum home page are from the home page scroll below the list of recent topics and you will then see the forums broken down into their subdivisions. Click on the one as appropriate. Or at the bottom right of every topic thread page is a jump to box which defaults to the current forum. If you click the arrow a list of all forums appear (you will need to use the scroll bar on the list to see all). Select your forum and press go.

Thanks Pal.

[chameleon]

The problem with (often several) new threads being started, is not so much the things which are repeated, more the things which are not, which can lead to facts and information that a poster may find useful and interesting being missed - always better and tidier to try to find and continue an existing one.

[Johnny39]

You memory is better than mine Johnny, it was indeed known as School Camp, I had a certificate "The League of Mountain Men" which I must admit went in the dustbin as soon as my Brother saw it and took the p.ss. Never had anything as exotic as Goulash but certainly came home hungry. you mentioned Tents, we slept 20 to a hut and the heat at night was stifling.

Hi j.c.d. the certificate did indeed have the grandiose title of "The League of Mountain Men", it sounds a bit like the title of a Charlton Heston film but I 'wore' mine with childish pride and, as I say, it still languishes among my possessions somewhere in the house. I'm not sure if the camp was called Langbar at Nessfield or the other way round anyway it was on the other side of the Wharfe from the "Cow and Calf". I don't think I said we slept in tents, we didn't. We slept in army type Nissan huts on iron double-bunk beds. The ghoulash, and I use the name lightly, was certainly not of the exotic Eastern European variety that we know today. I wouldn't care to hazard a guess as to what the ingredients were but to hungry boys, who had been out rambling all day, it was very acceptable. On one of the days we were there parents were allowed to visit. I suppose it was just to make sure we were still alive. It was certainly a rough and ready place but, like National Service, I wouldn't have missed it for the world!