Floradora9 ,you have brought back memories. I never had a holiday at Butlins but worked one summer there as a nursery nurse. I was aged 19 ,
I had to use a bicycle and ride round a camp at night , it was dark and I must have been very vulnerable riding round between 7pm and midnight!!! In a nurses uniform. It was a lonely 5 hours! It took ages to do one circuit of the camp ,so you were very wise to stay in your chalet at night. I was not allowed into chalets but if I heard a child cry I had to cycle to a control room and report it- no radios I could use. Could have been half an hour or more before parents received the message , a horrifying thought ! One evening I heard a child call for help , I dismounted and went to the door , a child told me his baby brother had fallen through his cot. I disobeyed orders and persuaded the child to open the door. To my horror the base of the cot had slipped and the baby was stuck half on the floor and screaming!! I lifted the child laid him safely on the floor , secured the cot with a dressing gown belt and put the child back in his cot , reassured the eldest child that Mummy and Daddy would be back soon , put him into his bed , locked the chalet door and peddled as fast as I could to the control room to get the message out. It does' nt bear thinking about in todays health and safety culture. It was dangerous for the children and for the nursery nurses cycling alone round a dimly lit holiday camp. It was an experience I have never forgotten!!!