Memories flood back as Wester Ross camping site marks a milestone
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A WESTER Ross man who had never so much as been on a camping holiday before taking over the running of a holiday site in a "new adventure" recounted the challenges and rewards of developing it as a major visitor attraction as a milestone was marked.
Bill Cameron arrived at the Sands Holiday Centre near Gairloch with his sister Fiona in May 1969, "ready for this new adventure".
He said: "Neither of us had had any previous experience of running a camp site, not even a camping holiday! Our first year was a real challenge. Fiona and I had been brought up on farms and never worked in a shop before. The shop which some will remember is where the games room is now.
"It was a traditional shop with one long wooden counter and all the stock was behind. During the summer it was constant. The demand for supplies was overwhelming." He recalled regular restock trips to Inverness, "often returning with the exhaust scraping along the ground. We were the first and only shop for a long time to be open on a Sunday.
"The pubs would close at 9pm and this is when rush hour hit! For 20 minutes it was a challenge to cross from the shop to the house because of all the traffic coming back from the pub!"
Away from the shop, he said the sheep kept the grass in order, the bins were emptied twice a day with a tractor and trailer and "the few toilets we had" cleaned.
The "desperate shortage" of facilities was challenge in the early days, though Mr Cameron recalled: "We told customers this as they arrived, as far as I am aware only one family turned around and went away."
A storm in the winter of 1969/70 blew over the four old touring caravans on the site – something of a relief as "it was an embarrassment opening the doors to these caravans which were old and worn". They were replaced by three newer, modern second-hand static caravans for the following season. Two new toilet blocks to include 54 toilets and 20 showers were built by Stephens of Perth, "a vast improvement for the customers" who were used to eight toilets for the ladies and four for for the men with a urinal. The new shop with a family home above it was then built.
Mr Cameron said: "The following season was a much more enjoyable time for us and also the campers with the new facilities. 1970 to 1977 were the boom years in the caravan and camping business. In these years the site would be full with 372 units three to four weeks of the year. It was one out, one in and there were queues along the road by the site waiting to get in. It caused great debate between my father and I as he wanted to let people in and I didn't due to the pressures on the toilet facilities. It wasn't unusual to have run out of water by 9am on a sunny day. It lasted until 10am on a wet day."
The volume of traffic prompted road improvements in from Gairloch out to Sand in 1974. Mr Cameron recalled: "These years passed quickly and at times it was intense. We had many local people and family that worked with us that helped make it the welcoming, friendly place to holiday and work. Lifelong friendships were made and many happy memories for us and also our customers."
In 1971, he married a local girl, Moira Fraser, and they went on to have four children, Linsay, Morag, James and Fiona.
A self-service shop proved to be a great advance: "It was still very busy. My father would stand at the shop door on a Sunday and let people in and out – crowd control, I think it’s called! We had two people at each till, one operating the till and the other packing to speed up the process. I remember deliveries of over 1000 pints of milk and bread rolls that didn't make the shelves as people were buying them from the van."
We still had a good number of customers but we had to move forward. Static sites were formed with water in and out, electric supply to all. Ian and Kathleen Philp (Who are with us tonight) being among the first to have a static site and still have it today. Paths to make easier access to the beach were built, a slip way to make boat launching easier was constructed. The Wigwams came in 1990 which were a huge success and have been added to since. The children’s play area was put in place
James and Mairi moved into the family home with Anna and Alastair in 2008. With fresh enthusiasm to make positive changes they have upgraded the toilet blocks, introduced service sites, brought new equipment to the play park to name a few.
One of the major changes has being The Barn Café.
