Holidays My Story

This story belongs to James and Alana and their Grampa Dougie.

It's a tiny tale of Grampa Dougie's life

and the holidays he went on when he was a little boy.

Now it's time for him to share his memories

and take twins Alana and James on a journey of discovery.

It's holiday time and Grampa Dougie's back to take the twins

to a very special place close to his heart.

-Hi there, kids. Are you ready to go on your holidays?

-Yeah!

-Yeah!

-Are you sure?

-Yeah!

-Yeah!

-Have you got your buckets and spades?

-Here.

Have you got your bags? Let me see your bags. That's it.

Grampa's got his bag. He used to take it on his holidays.

Where did you go on your holiday when you were wee, Grampa?

We're going where I went when I was a wee boy,

-a place called Millport. Do you know how we get there?

-Across the water.

That's right. Across the water on a ferry.

OK. Are we ready? Off we go!

Grampa Dougie is taking Alana and James to Millport,

a town on the little island of Cumbrae,

not far from his hometown of Glasgow.

And look, here he is in Millport when he was a little boy.

The special thing about Millport, it's so near,

but it feels so far away,

because you go on the boat and go across the water.

You feel as though you're miles away from anywhere.

When we were wee, myself and my brothers, it was way before people

could go away on aeroplanes and fly all over the world

to places where it was always sunny.

We used to go places where it was quite often rainy.

The main thing is most people went on holiday to the seashore.

And guess where Grampa Dougie is taking Alana and James now.

On the very boat that he took to go on holiday when he was little,

the Waverley.

When I was little, my family never had a car.

When we went on holiday, we used to go on the train as far as it would go

-and then go on a paddle steamer.

-What's a paddle steamer?

A paddle steamer's a boat and it takes you across the sea

and do you know what? We're going on it today.

-Are you ready? Let's go!

-Yeah!

OK, on you go.

And off they go to Millport.

-The water's turning white!

-What?

-The water's all turning white!

-Bye-bye, Largs!

-Bye-bye!

The Waverley is the only paddle steamer in Britain

that can sail on the sea.

Grampa Dougie tells the twins all about the paddle steamer.

They're in the engine room.

Oh, that is noisy!

Grampa tells James and Alana all about the big engine.

The engine has to be huge and powerful to push the old boat.

There's the paddles, through the window.

Can you count them as they're going round?

The engine moves the big paddles round and round,

pushing the boat through the water.

And here they are in Millport.

It's goodbye to the Waverley, hello holidays!

-Did you enjoy the paddle steamer? BOTH:

-Yeah!

That's great. Come on, then.

When Grampa Dougie was a young boy,

people didn't fly to holidays in different countries.

Nearly everybody stayed at home. They took boats and trains instead

and went to the beaches and countryside near where they lived.

For Grampa Dougie, it was holidaying in Millport.

Many others in Scotland left the big cities

and took the train to board other boats

to other holiday towns. If the sun shone, that was great.

But even in the rain, everybody had fun.

Millport holds many happy memories for Grampa Dougie.

Look, here he is as a young man on holiday.

But the fun there stretches all the way back to his childhood.

-Do you know where we are now?

-No.

This is a house where I used to come when I was a wee boy for my holidays.

Up these stairs, into that house there.

And Grampa and his mummy and daddy and his brothers

all came here for a whole month in July in the summer.

And when Grampa Dougie grew up and got married, do you know what?

He took his family to Millport.

They've been going ever since for their summer holidays.

-When you come here, where do you stay?

-A caravan.

-In a caravan? Are you going to show me?

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

Right, on we go, then.

And off they go to find out more.

-BOTH:

-This is my mummy!

And look! Here she is on holiday in Millport.

When I was a girl, we didn't stay in a house in the holidays.

We stayed in this caravan. Why don't we go in and show Grampa around?

It's been a while since he's been in it. Come on, let's go.

A caravan is just like a house, but in mini version.

This is the living room.

Oh, that's nice.

Oh, lovely!

What else can you show me?

The kitchen.

The kitchen? Do you cook dinner here?

-No, Mummy does.

-Mummy does!

This is the bedroom.

Oh, that's cosy!

What else is there?

This is the bathroom.

Oh! Lovely.

But there are some things that haven't changed

since Grampa Dougie was a little boy.

When he was young, everybody who went to Millport

cycled round the tiny island.

To this day, holidaymakers and day-trippers still do.

Now it's time for Alana and James to join in the fun

and give it some pedal power!

What a funny bike they've picked!

Look who's doing all the work, though!

It's an easy ride for James and Alana.

No peddling there!

Ah, there's the Crocodile Rock!

And it's in this old film, too!

And there's Grampa Dougie and his brothers sitting on it

when they were young.

For years, holidays in Millport meant walks along the promenade,

visiting the shops and playing on the beach.

But for cyclists, it also meant stopping off at a special cafe.

It was great for catching your breath halfway round the island.

People still visit it today,

including Grampa Dougie, Alana and James.

When I was a boy, I used to come to this cafe.

When I was cycling with my mummy and daddy, we stopped here for a drink.

-Would you like a drink? BOTH:

-Yeah.

Yeah? Well, when we came in for a drink,

I used to get a special iced drink, which is fizzy juice with ice cream.

-Would you like to try one? BOTH:

-Yeah.

Oh, look at this!

Oh!

Wow! They're enormous.

Ice cream and lemonade together!

Sounds great.

-Do you like that?

-Yeah!

Yummy!

A well-deserved break.

Oh, what's that?

Ah, it's a seal!

Now it's time for some fun on the beach.

Building sandcastles, of course.

When I was wee, I lived in a town. It was full of cars, buses and houses.

I used to love to come to the seaside,

and I used to play on the beach for hours and hours on end.

-What do you like to do on the beach?

-Make sandcastles.

-And you, James?

-Make sandcastles.

-Make sandcastles?

Grampa's favourite thing to do is to go to the rock pools.

-Would you like to go?

-Yeah!

Right! We need nets and buckets, OK?

Yeah.

On we go.

And off they go to find fishy things.

Come down here.

Who's got a bucket?

-Me.

-Me.

I'll put some water in it in case we catch anything.

And we have to put it in a bucket.

And another bucket.

That's good.

-Right. Now what we'll do... Will we look under our rock?

-Yeah.

Watch for anything moving.

Oh, I think I saw something there.

Let's try.

You might be in luck, Grampa.

Oh, it got away.

There!

-Oh, goodness me.

-What?

There's lots under here.

Can I see?

How many things are under here?

They all ran away. Try under there.

No, nothing there.

All you found was a big bit of seaweed!

Always the way, Alana!

If you catch anything and you put it in your bucket,

you've always got to put it back in the water.

You keep that seaweed safe, Grampa Dougie.

-Did you enjoy my story about what I did when I was a boy?

-Yes!

And Grampa's story?

Yeah!

What a holiday for Alana and James with their Grampa Dougie.

He took them to his favourite holiday place when he was a boy.

They travelled back on a very special paddle steamer.

They played on the beach, went to the rock pool and caught seaweed,

and don't forget the caravan, the bike ride

and that yummy ice cream drink.

-What was your favourite, Alana?

-The big bike!

-And what was your favourite bit, James?

-The beach!

Well, you know, Grampa enjoyed every bit of it,

being with you and Alana on holiday. Do you want to give me a big hug?

What a fabulous heap of fun.

That was James and Alana's and their Grampa Dougie's

tiny tale about the holidays he used to take when he was young,

and the things he loved to do and why he has an old suitcase.

Now that Grampa Dougie has shared his story with them,

it's time for James and Alana to start their own story.

Do you know someone who has a story to share?

Subtitles by Red Bee Media