Butlin's Ayr was a holiday camp located near Ayr in

South Ayrshire South Ayrshire ( sco, Sooth Ayrshire; gd, Siorrachd Àir a Deas, ) is one of thirty-two council areas of Scotland, covering the southern part of Ayrshire. It borders onto Dumfries and Galloway, East Ayrshire and North Ayrshire. On 30 June 2 ...

, Scotland. When originally opened in 1946, it was named Butlin's Ayr, but in 1987 was renamed Wonderwest World. It closed in 1998 and re-opened in 1999 under the management of Haven Holidays who renamed it Craig Tara.

Butlins

During the Second World War the Admiralty, who had already taken over his camp at Filey, asked

Billy Butlin Sir William Heygate Edmund Colborne Butlin (29 September 189912 June 1980) was a South African-born British entrepreneur whose name is synonymous with the British holiday camp.''#refRiverside, American Heritage Dictionary 2004'', p. 135.#refSc ...

to construct two new camps; one in North Wales and the other in Scotland. Butlin found on the coast neighbouring the Heads of Ayr and opened a camp in 1940. Butlin took back ownership of the camp from the Admiralty after the war, and in 1947 Butlins Ayr was opened to the public after some reconstruction work. Heads of Ayr holiday camp contained all of the tried and tested Butlins ingredients: the famous Butlins Redcoats, a funfair, early morning wake up, a dining hall (with the cheers going up when a waitress dropped a plate), indoor and outdoor swimming pools, a ballroom, a boating lake, tennis courts, a sports field (for the three legged and egg & spoon races and the donkey derby), table tennis and

snooker Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sports, cue sport played on a Billiard table#Snooker and English billiards tables, rectangular table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six Billiard table#Pockets 2, pockets, one at each corner and o ...

tables, an

amusement arcade An amusement arcade (often referred to as a video arcade, amusements or simply arcade) is a venue where people play arcade games, including arcade video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, merchandisers (such as cl ...

, a medical centre, a theatre, arcades of shops, a chairlift system and a miniature railway. In 1987 a £25 million investment programme was announced. Work began in 1988 with £12 million used to construct a new swimming pool and upgrade the accommodation. A further £13 million investment followed over the next five years. Once the renovations were completed the camp was renamed ''Wonderwest World''.

Heads of Ayr Hotel

In 1947 Butlin began work on a hotel on the site which shared the camp's resources. It was completed in 1948 and opened as the Heads of Ayr hotel. The hotel continued to operate until the 1970s when it was closed and demolished.

Railway station

On 17 May 1947 a railway station was opened for the use of the camp and the nearby hotel,Butt (1995), p.116 shortly before

nationalisation Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...

and the formation of

British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...

. It was closed again on 16 September 1968.

Haven Holidays

In 1999 the camp became part of Haven Holidays along with the

Pwllheli Pwllheli () is a market town and community of the Llŷn Peninsula ( cy, Penrhyn Llŷn) in Gwynedd, north-western Wales. It had a population of 4,076 in 2011 of whom a large proportion, 81%, are Welsh language, Welsh speaking. Pwllheli is the pl ...

camp as part of an internal reorganisation within ank Holiday Divisionwho owned both Butlins and Haven. Since being taken over by Haven Holidays it has been renamed ''Craig Tara'' and the focus of operations has been transformed from predominantly chalet accommodation to mostly static caravan accommodation. Bourne Leisure had purchased the Ranks holiday division in the year 2000 and continued to develop this site as a Haven.

Stephen McKerron

On 17 September 1988, 5 year old

Stephen McKerron Stephen or Steven is a common English first name. It is particularly significant to Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; h ...

vanished from the camp whilst on holiday with his aunt and uncle. This led to the largest ever missing child hunt by Scottish Police, as 200 officers searched the camp and a six-mile (10 km) radius from the camp. On Sunday 2 October Stephen's body was found outside the search area by Lady MacLehose, the wife of retired diplomat and former Governor of Hong Kong Lord MacLehose of Beoch, who lived nearby. Despite a fatal incident inquiry finding Death by Natural Causes questions (as to how Stephen was able to walk so far by himself and whether he may have been transported by some unknown third party) remain.Wilson (1989), pp.177-186

References

Bibliography

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External links

Ayr
at Butlins Memories
Ayr
at Bygone Butlins

at Butlins Memorabilia

Sources

{{Butlins in the mid sixties Andrew Stephen Hill won the young Tarzan competition which was one of the usual activity for young boy campers Holiday camps Ayr Buildings and structures in Ayr