1988, February – Igls, Austria
Package holiday for a week to a hotel right at the foot of the ski slopes. Flight to Munich and then a long slow drive – very heavy traffic. We hired cross-country skis once, but did not make much progress. Much more successful was going up on ski-lifts and walking down the well-laid-out paths, which were hiking trails with Alpine views. We also enjoyed a tram ride from Igls down to Innsbruck and back. Photographs of a ski-lift (main image) and of the tram to Innsbruck.
1988, April – Leipzig, East Germany and Berlin
Fascinating package holiday by bus; flight to Leipzig, several nights in hotels in West Germany, then into East Germany. Persuaded a taxi-driver to take us to Colditz Castle and looked around. The photograph is of the only (official) entrance and exit while it was a Prisoner of War camp, featuring in many escape stories. Back into West Germany through Checkpoint Charlie in Berlin, and two photographs in West Berlin.
1988, June – Netherhall Guest House, Largs, Ayrshire
Joyce and others took the residents of Charlotte Chapel’s Eventide Home for a week’s holiday in a minibus, driven by Shaun Gordon. It was once the home of Lord Kelvin, Glasgow scientist well known for his Kelvin temperature scale. Bought by a group of evangelical Christians for use as a Holiday Home and Conference Centre. It was requisitioned by the Navy during World War Two, and from the compensation paid to the trustees at the end of the war, they added the block on the right of this photograph, dining room and conference room below and twin bedrooms for the whole length above. Joyce’s family had often spent New Year there, she worked as a cook for a summer holiday job, and after our marriage we joined with a group of Edinburgh friends and went together, for many years, for the week running up to Easter as a group holiday. The site has now been developed for modern housing.
1988, June – Glasgow Garden Festival
A full day at the third of the five National Garden Festivals, this one between April and September 1988, on the south bank of the River Clyde at Plantation Quay in Govan. We had been to the Liverpool one in 1984, the Stoke-on-Trent one in 1986 and, later to the Gateshead one in 1990. A very impressive day. Overview photograph of the site.
1988, July – Center Parc, Nottingham Forest
The first of twelve one-week stays, from now until 2016, this time using three chalets; Jeremy and Sandy were with us; Lesley, Graeme, David, Jenny and Alison had another; George, Jan and Samantha Pryde were some distance away from us, as guests with dogs had a dedicated section of the site. In the picture in the subtropical swimming paradise, Lesley, David, Jenny and Samantha; Ian and Alison are in the other picture. Horse-rides, walks, boat-hire and ice-creams in the various cafes.
1988, September – Maidenhead
Invitation to the wedding of Karen Manderson in the Baptist Church in Maidenhead, followed by a grand reception and meal in a Maidenhead hotel. We made a holiday out of it, driving leisurely south and spending time with the Mandersons after the wedding.
1988, September – 38 Murrayfield Road, Edinburgh
Not a holiday, but to finish off the film in the camera we took these pictures of the back garden of our house.
1988, November – Antigua
First Caribbean holiday, to a hotel on the coast outside St John’s. Direct flight from Heathrow; discovered the leg-room available by booking the front row in the bubble above the main deck of the 747. Excellent swimming – photo of us. Hired a car and explored the island. Photographs of the cricketer remembered in the main street of the capital and key port, St. John’s (contrast the price of souvenirs in the cruise terminal and in the side-streets of the city), and overlooking Nelson’s Harbour.
1988, Christmas
Not a holiday, but Christmas lunch. The only photograph we have including Bill Tait, Graeme’s father, on the far left of the picture.