August 7, 2016February 6, 2018 by chvarchive

August 2016 update

Homerton College’s alumni magazine, the Homertonian, published a letter about CHV in July. The original material submitted to the magazine is also shown here. It was expected that it would be edited but the original material contains some interesting points and some new descriptive material about the camps, so I include for your interest.

We have also seen some comments from former campers (the links are here and here), and from Peggy Heap, who fostered a child from Hungary via Vienna.

Reviewing the material published on the website to date, there appear to be two broad themes. Continue reading →

July 19, 2016 by chvarchive

1964 Plattenhof images

First camp – photographs by David Thomas

Victoria and Celia’s hair-washing salon 1	Victoria and Celia’s hair-washing salon 2
Victoria and Celia’s hair-washing salon 3	CRI commer van with unknown man. Who is he?
David Thomas with boys and CRI vans	Michael Peel with boys
Boys and CRI vans	Boys with guitar
Boys with David Beeby and Gordon Edwards	Unknown church spires

First camp – photographs by David Beeby

Plattenhof with Stefan Saum and Maria	Plattenhof
Backerei	Volkswagen with the Marias
Wilfred Kahan	Dieter Reindl
Willy Rybaks	René Nemeth
Washing up with David Thomas and Michael Peel	Lunchtime
Surgery, David Ward with Peter Rybaks	Tent inspection by Gordon Edwards
Hockey match – Gordon in the background	Hockey match
The lake at Plattenhof	On top of Feldberg
FD with Martyn, Gordon and Oliver	Visit to Triberg
The staff – left to right Martyn Edelsten, Gordon Edwards, David beeby, Susan Bennett, Celia Charnings, Ian Cooper, David Ward, Victoria Waterton, David Thomas, Michael Peel.	CRI flagpole
View of Freiburg	View of Freiburg

Second camp – photographs by Lindsay Smith

Staff and boys on the second 1964 camp	Washing up
Meal time	Meal time
Hockey	Boy with pole
Boy on rocks somewhere	View of St Peter, the nearest village

Second camp – photographs by Susan Wilmott

John Rignall and boys	Paul Hawksworth (probably) – not sure about the others
Christine Green and Lindsay Smith	Lindsay + John, possibly on Feldberg

July 19, 2016July 19, 2016 by chvarchive

1965 Plattenhof images

First camp – photographs by Mervyn Bramley

The first 1965 camp – staff + boys. Left to right: back row – unknown, Philip Seddon, Martin Ward, John Colquhoun, Susan Wilmott, Gordon Edwards, Lynette Gill; middle row – David Beeby; front row – Mervyn Bramley, Victoria Waterton, Celia Charnings, Carole Hunt.

First camp – photographs by David Beeby

John Colquhoun shaving	Hike group with Mervyn Bramley, Gordon Edwards & David beeby
Witold Kalinowski	Michael
Josef Skubek	Hike group – Mervyn Bramley & Gordon Edwards
Hike – the tents	Tent 4 at lunch
St. Peter	Egon Witczak
Celia Chamings	Rainer Sakic, Roman Plich
Alex, Philip Seddon, John Coquhoun	Peter Sakic + unkown + Carole Hunt
Silvio Cretti	Lynette Gill and Mario
Football Match	Marquee group with Gräfin Szapary
Marquee group with Gräfin Szapary	Carlsberg childrens home with children
Carlsberg children’s home	Dom Remy – birth place of Jean d’Arc. Visited en route to the camp.
Tea-time by canal, France	Gordon Edwards with Mario

First camp – photographs by Susan Wilmott

Stefan Saum the farmer	Jackie
Mervyn Bramley, Gordon Edwards, David Beeby & boys	David Beeby, Celia Charnings, Mervyn Bramley, Carole Hunt, Gordon Edwards – en route to the camp
Victoria Waterton and Philip Seddon

Second camp – photographs by Sue Wilmott

John Campion and Sue Bennett 3rd and 4th from the left, Colin Morley & Ruth Doling on far right, John Colquhoun to left of Ruth. Others unknown.

Stefan Saum, Colin Morley and others with boys	Colin Morley with boys
Martin Ricketts	Sue Bennett and John Campion

Second camp – photographs by Colin Morley

Unknown woman and pedicure	Colin Morley
Unknown man & shampoo	Ruth Morley & two unknown men
Mass	Ruth Morley with children
Table game	Gordon Edwards, boys and fire
Meal time	Man at cooking fire
Two boys with kite	Man, Ruth Morley and cooking fire
John Colquhoun ? shaving	Paul Hawksworth
Boys in tent	Van with boys
Arriving van with children and staff

July 19, 2016July 19, 2016 by chvarchive

1964 Plattenhof

Two camps were held that year at Plattenhof near Sankt Peter in the Black Forest, Germany. The land was owned by Stefan Saum who seemed to combine farming with the operation of a gasthaus. The property contained a lake formed by the damming of a stream, and german families would drive up and sunbathe, swim and drink beer etc. However, the amalgamation of farming practices with the provision of food had a downside in the existence of a dung heap outside the kitchen window, a juxtaposition that didn’t go down well with the local government authorities and led to the revocation of the food license. Continue reading →

July 19, 2016July 19, 2016 by chvarchive

1965 Plattenhof

There were two camps at Plattenhof, St. Peter, in 1965 but there is no known existing written documentation and the only evidence is based around photographs. It is not absolutely clear which camp was first but probably it was the one led by David Beeby. Continue reading →

July 19, 2016July 19, 2016 by chvarchive

Memories of a 1964/65 camp

By Gordon Edwards

Fuelled by a State Scholarship, for which I am ever grateful, I entered Jesus College in 1961 to read the Natural Sciences Tripos. Cambridge University then was a strange place by today’s standards. Predominantly male and public school, many of the colleges, including Jesus, were surrounded by iron fencing with revolving spikes – whether to exclude outsiders, mainly female probably, or to imprison the students was never quite clear. If one did venture out of college after dark without sporting an undergraduate gown, there was the hazard of encountering a proctor, who was entitled to fine you half a mark (6/8d or 33p in modern currency) for your state of undress. Added to this was the imposition of a fine if one was living in college and returned after a certain time – 10:30 pm as I recall.

Continue reading →

May 15, 2016February 6, 2018 by chvarchive

May 2016 update

By Peter Watson

Since our last update, posts have appeared in various college e-newsletters and on the Cambridge University Alumni Facebook page (scroll down to item dated 14 March)

A piece has also been submitted to the university’s forthcoming ‘Alumni Stories’ website – we will share details of where to find this when we have them.

With Gordon Edwards, I wrote a piece that has now been published in ‘The Jesuan’, Jesus College’s alumni publication, which can be read here (pdf) (scroll down to page 12).

It has been lovely to hear from some old friends and others with memories of the CHV camps. As we continue to spread the word please do share this site with any connections who may also have memories from the time.

April 3, 2016April 3, 2016 by chvarchive

John Grundy gallery

1966 At Mariapfarr swimming pool, left Gill Farmer

1966 Battle of the rafts, Oberhüttensee Lake, Austria

1966 Digging waste pit at Austrian campsite

1966 On top of Steierische Kalkspitze,left Chris Ingham, right Robert Heptonstall

1966 Picking wild strawberries, Austria, left Peter Scott, right Glyn Jones

1966 Weisspriach valley, home of the Austrian camps

1967 Glyn Jones, team leader Austria, proud Welshman (!)

1969 FD, Jaan Rajamets, John Grundy at Austrian camp

1970 at Giglachsee lake for overnight stay

March 10, 2016August 9, 2019 by chvarchive

Memories of Children’s Holiday Venture (CHV) – a personal memoir

By John Grundy

When an older undergraduate walked into my freshman room at Clare early in 1966 and said, “You are studying German, John. Would you like to work in Austria next summer?”, I didn’t immediately realise that he was changing the direction of my life. An instinctive “Yes” (I’d worked in Austria before and loved it) led to a major social commitment in my undergraduate years and beyond, and to six summers with long weeks spent in Austria’s Tauern mountains surrounded by young Hungarians and other eastern Europeans.

Writing in 2016 it is difficult to disentangle the word “refugee” from big political issues around migration, terrorism, international upheaval, threats to western Europe’s way of life. Continue reading →

February 10, 2016February 10, 2016 by chvarchive

Tony Othen photographs

In 1967 Bernard Faithfull-Davies collaborated with a professional photographer, Tony Othen, who travelled round most of the camps.

Tony has published a selection of his CHV photographs on his Flickr site, where he writes:

“Although 22 years after the end of World War 2, there were still massive housing shortages in Germany and Austria. Refugees and those displaced by the war occupied some of the poorest housing available. Families struggled to bring up their children in such conditions and a camping holiday provided a welcome break and contributed hugely to their welfare.

“In 1967 I drove the Director of CHV on his annual visit of holiday camps and refugee centres. Taking photographs of the children in their homes and in the holiday camps helped to tell the story and to raise money for further holidays.”

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Children's Holiday Venture Archive

For volunteers and participants in the Children's Holiday Venture in the 1960s and 70s (run by Children's Relief International)

August 2016 update

1964 Plattenhof images

First camp – photographs by David Thomas

First camp – photographs by David Beeby

Second camp – photographs by Lindsay Smith

Second camp – photographs by Susan Wilmott

1965 Plattenhof images

First camp – photographs by Mervyn Bramley

First camp – photographs by David Beeby

First camp – photographs by Susan Wilmott

Second camp – photographs by Sue Wilmott

Second camp – photographs by Colin Morley

1964 Plattenhof

1965 Plattenhof

Memories of a 1964/65 camp

May 2016 update

John Grundy gallery

Memories of Children’s Holiday Venture (CHV) – a personal memoir

Tony Othen photographs