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.