The spark that lit the flame

In 1977 I left the army and began life as a civilian, my father was suffering from severe heart problems, which were probably partly related to some of my active service and he had subsequently spent many weeks off work. Without work or a liveable wage my Dad used to get seriously depressed, two young daughters still at school and a mortgage to pay, etc. I imagine he felt awful.

One day while cleaning my old mini, I got chatting to a guy who had a 1964 Bedford Dormobile for sale, the thought of cheap holidays for my parents and sisters (something they had not had for several years) not to mention myself and the then tidy sum of fifty pounds changed hands. For the next few weeks my Dad was in his element, slowly repairing and preparing this old bus. With all necessary work carried out my Dad, Mom and sisters set off to Weymouth for a their holiday. Sadly, a few days into this holiday, my Dad suffered another heart attack and was cared for in the local hospital. He never returned home and of course the family were devastated. A few weeks later my brother and I returned to Weymouth to recover that old Bedford. My memory of what happened to that camper is a blank, I do know that I never got to use it.

Today, I saw an old but tidy Bedford Dormobile that brought all of those memories flooding back. The roof lifts up at an angle of about 45 degrees and two bunks are suspended in the cutaway of the roof. The kitchen is at the rear and consists of nothing more than a two burner hob and grill and a few small cupboards. There is no on board toilet, fridge or heater. By today's standards, it would not really qualify as much more than a poorly equipped "day van" but for me it was the spark that lit the flame. Those young mans thoughts of limitless holidays with maybe a girlfriend or two, going anywhere desire would take me, made more of an impression than I realised at the time. The fixed bed in our current van is just about the size of the complete interior of this old van, we can stand comfortably anywhere inside without having to lift the roof up and when the days are cold we turn on the central heating. My word, how things have changed. This Bedford is 46 years old and it has probably worn better than myself, I can not imagine what improvements motorhomes will have when our current van is a similar age.