David Beeby has provided a list from his records of volunteers at the Plattenhof camps he attended between 1964 and 67. Continue reading →
Tag / Jesus
Reunion at Jesus College, 17th October 2019
We held a ‘final’ reunion on 17th October 2019 at Jesus College. Attended by 26 people, an important part of the event was the launch of the book of the website and its presentation to the four Colleges from which the biggest groups of volunteers had been drawn, Clare, Homerton, Jesus and St. Catharine’s. Continue reading →
Mervyn Bramley photos
A set of pictures sent by Mervyn Bramley from the camp at Plattenhof in Germany, in 1965. (Read his account here).
Heinrich’s birthday party (with Priest!)
Under canvas on Plattenhof 1965, Camp 1
By Mervyn Bramley (Jesus 1964-67)
Challenged to write my memories of CHV, I looked at the photos I’d taken and, while the memories didn’t come flooding back with great clarity, these four thought bubbles formed.
The camp looked distinctly military when I first arrived at Plattenhof and saw the large khaki ex-army tents at the forest’s edge and the CHV flag flying above them. But the atmosphere there wasn’t – it was friendly albeit necessarily firm at times with the boys. Continue reading →
St Peter camp I, 1967
The following is a report from 1967, written by Peter Watson about a camp at St Peter in summer of that year.
For the first time for several years the reservoir by the Plattenhof, high up in the Black Forest 20 miles from Freiberg, was warm. The two weeks of hot sunshine, marred only by some violent but short-lived thunderstorms meant that swimming costumes were the dress of the day, With continuous sunshine, activities were easy to plan, and fo fourteen days a team of 12 students gave 37 children (13 girls and 24 boys) a holiday which students and children alike will long remember. Continue reading →
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.
Peter Watson gallery
Hello Heifer
Judi Venner (Homerton mid 60s) with children on a walk in the woods
On a walk
The members of the first 1964 team, pictured at the campsite in the Black Forest. Standing from left to right are: Martyn Edelsten, (visiting from Edinburgh University), Gordon Edwards (Jesus), David Beeby (Jesus), Susan Bennett (Girton), Ian Cooper (Jesus), David Ward (Selwyn), David Thomas (Trinity Hall), Michael Peel (Jesus). Seated left to right are Celia Charnings (Homerton) and Victoria Waterton (Homerton)
Frau Saum. She was in charge at the Plattenhof, the Black Forest Camp
Tony Phelan (Jesus, 1964-1967) with children
Group of girls, escorted by David Beeby (standing) and Peter Watson (seated) preparing for a visit to the small Camp. Janet Billingshurst (Homerton mid 60s) with red hair, half hidden by David, and Marj Bannister (Homerton mid 60s) were in charge
Philip Seddon (Jesus 1964-67) contemplates washing up with two children
Children’s Holiday Venture in Germany, Austria and the UK
By Peter Watson
‘The end of World War II brought in its wake the largest population movements in European history. Millions fled or were expelled from Eastern Europe. Hundreds of thousands of Jews, survivors of the genocide perpetrated by the Nazis, sought secure homes beyond their native lands. And other refugees from every country in Europe rushed to escape from the newly installed communist regimes.’
An extract from ‘European refugee movements after World War II’ by Bernard Wasserstein
Published on the BBC history website
Children’s Holiday Venture (CHV), with which many Jesuans from the 1960s and 70s were involved, ran summer camps in Austria and Germany for children from families who had been forced to move at the end of World War II because of political change in Eastern Europe. Continue reading →
Children's Holiday Venture Archive 