Broomlea School Camp

Broomlea School Camp

Thank you to Brian Gourlay, Biggar, Lanarkshire, Scotland, who wrote:

School Camps

"John Gray’s and Alex Jackson’s recollections of Middleton school camp, about six months ago, reminded me of a similar experience I had at Broomlea camp near West Linton."

For several months leading up to going to the camp, we fervently hoped we would go to Broomlea and not Middleton. I guess the grapevine from other children at our school, Preston Street, reckoned that Broomlea was the better of the two for some reason or other."

Bunk Beds

"We were about 11 when we went for two weeks to Broomlea, around September time. We were seen off from the school by our anxious mothers and travelled to Broomlea in the luxury of a double-decker Edinburgh Corporation bus

We lived in army-type wooden huts and had our first experience of bunk beds, which caused lots of jostling as to who would get the top bunk. There must have been 20 to 30 of us in a hut, supervised by a couple of teachers who had small rooms at one end.

Games

"Like Alex and John, I can vaguely remember playing some type of war game, and also being captivated by the war experiences of a teacher from another school.

We played football incessantly, climbed trees, scoured the nearby countryside and generally charged about in a fashion that would give the today’s politically correct ‘health and safety’ spoilsports (I’m being polite) an absolute nightmare."

Neidpath Castle

"One of the highlights was a bus trip to Peebles for a tour of Neidpath Castle – where we were also allowed to swim in the nearby river Tweed – another ‘health and safety’ nightmare. I can remember the water was freezing cold and there was also a strong under-current.

Looking at that stretch of the river today, it’s still hard to believe we were allowed to strip off to our woollen swimming trunks, leave our clothes on the bank, and just jump in."

Today

"Broomlea camp, and all the huts, seem to be still there – a short distance south of West Linton, although I’m not sure what it is used for nowadays."

Brian Gourlay, Biggar, Lanarkshire, Scotland: February 15, 2008