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Papers: List of Papers 2002-04 |
Joseph Derham . Frank Whearity |
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Red Island Holiday Camp |
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A record crowd packed Keane's Bus Bar on Tuesday 9th. March for the talk by Senator Feargal Quinn on Memories of the Red Island Holiday Camp We were brought back down Memory Lane with many anecdotes, both humourous and serious. Feargal's father, Éamonn, opened the holiday camp in 1948. It was designed in an E shape and all 250 rooms had a sea view. It could accomodate 500 guests and employed 110 staff. It was a profitable enterprise e.g. in 1954 it made a profit of £12,000. Almost all of the holiday makers were from the North of England. The traders, shops and pubs in Skerries also reaped the benefits of this holiday camp. |
It flourished until The Troubles broke out in Northern Ireland. 1972 was a particularly bad year in the North (Bloody Sunday) and became a disastrous year for Red Island. Particularly after the protest in Dublin when the British Embassy was burned down bookings already made were cancelled. The camp was closed down by the Quinns and later sold on. Many Skerries people still have happy memories of the camp in the 50s and 60s. Senator Quinn had an unique and pleasant manner of re-living his early days when he worked for his father in Red Island Holiday Camp. A vote of thanks, on behalf of Skerries Historical Society, was given by John Harte. |