The Polzeath Plague

During my teenage years in the 1970s I attended two summer camps organised by the Crusaders in the wonderful village of Polzeath in Cornwall. The photograph shows the sun setting over the camp in August, 1976.

The holidays were immensely enjoyable and most of the day was spent swimming or attempting to surf the seemingly enormous waves that came crashing into the bay. However, there was a malaise which seemed to affect every camp and that was a particularly unpleasant stomach upset which the campers knew as "the Polzeath plague". This illness, apparently caused by the local water and to which the locals were immune, caused considerable discomfort and embarrassment to its sufferers.

I imagine that South West Water have long since cured the problem and that more recent visitors to Polzeath have not suffered the effects that were visited on campers every year in the 1970s.

QE2 1975 MAIDEN CRUISE MEDAL

This large (45 mm diameter) medal was struck for the QE2's maiden round the world cruise. On the reverse side there is a stylised map of the world and a list of the ports of call. I bought one of these in a table top sale in Sheffield but have never been able to find out anything about it despite a long search of the internet.

I think that the medal is struck in cupro nickel. It is unfortunate that this example has been mounted. Any information from readers would be gratefully received.

Floodlights at Bramall Lane, 1985

This photograph, taken in 1985, shows the now dismantled floodlights above the old John Street stand. I think that there were five floodlights in all at Bramall Lane. They were removed in the mid-1990s as lights on the roof of the stands gave a more even coverage of the pitch. The John Street stand itself was also replaced some years ago.

It is a shame that tall floodlights are now a thing of the past. The lights were always a useful guide to the ground when was travelling to an away game in an unfamiliar town.

Bramall Lane is a much more modern ground today but I still miss standing on the old Kop. However, the football is generally better today than a lot of what we endured in the mid-80s.

Platform 0, Stockport

Forget Harry Potter and the mythical platform 9 3/4, at Stockport station there really is a platform 0.

I can only assume that this recently constructed platform was given the number "0" as it is on the other side of the existing platform 1 to the other four platforms. It may have been easier to renumber all the platforms but it is good to come across such a novelty. Perhaps, there are other odd numbered platforms at stations elsewhere in Britain or abroad.