Dad’s ability to do anything he wants with timber gave us something to be proud of

Over the May Bank Holiday weekend while out for a walk I noticed a family driving with a caravan in toe out the Racecourse Road, Roscommon. All appeared to have big smiles as they set off to reach their holiday destination. The look of relaxed excitement took me back to my own childhood caravan experience.

On a wet October day in the early 90's I heard my mother let a roar at the front door to my father. “Gerry, what in the name of God is that monstrosity?” followed by the door getting shut with abrupt authority.

Rushing to look out the window I saw what can only be described as a shell of a caravan. The front window was broken and covered with some blue plastic sheeting, the tyres were almost flat, and moss was growing on most of its surfaces.

To put it mildly, it looked like it had its own ecosystem and all that it was missing was Fr. Noel Furlong from Fr. Ted doing the Riverdance jig in it. Gerry on the other hand could only see a project with potential. The caravan was a part payment barter deal for some job he recently completed and this two wheeled monster was going to give us a summer holiday in any destination we wanted.

As a young lad looking out at this jalopy, I had to fully agree with my mother that Dad had officially lost the plot, in spite of his proud claims that the chassis was like new.

Gerry (not for the first time) was determined to prove us all wrong so work rapidly commenced on his project, cutting plate glass for the front window, power washing the exterior and gutting the interior. My mother eventually started to come around to the idea so bought foam, material and accessories to make curtains, cushions, hammocks, flooring, and bedding.

As winter turned to spring the appearance of our project took shape and we all bought into our father's vision.

With a freshly painted smooth exterior backed up with a totally new interior thanks to my Mam’s Singer sewing machine (still in operation) and Dad’s ability to do anything he wants with timber, we now had something to be proud of.

Our summer holiday destination was going to be a week in Bundoran and we couldn't wait. The only worry was that the caravan was heavy and there was a fear that our Opel Ascona would overheat hitting up the Curlew Mountains.

To counteract this issue, we filled some empty three litre country spring bottles with water in case we needed them for the overheated radiator. Our maiden voyage was going smoothly but as the incline got steeper exiting Boyle our eyes were fixed on the temperature gauge as it rose with speed into the red. A pit stop outside a house was made to top up the water levels and let the Ascona engine cool down. The residents of the same house shouted out “are ye staying here?” but we politely declined the opportunity.

After a nervy journey, the sight of the caravan park, the waves crashing against the shore and the bright lights of the amusements in Bundoran made it all worthwhile. We parked up beside a huge state of the art shiny caravan but strangely it’s owner couldn't get over the good condition of our two wheeled antique (chassis like new he said) and suggested to my father that it was worth a few pounds, which was music to his ears.

Our holiday was what every young child should get to experience. Sunshine, amusements, burgers and chips, ice-cream, the seaside, sausages hopping on the pan in the caravan early in the morning and games of cards and chats between the four of us before we tucked up comfortably at night. Putting it simply, it was a very happy period of our childhood. If the simple things in life don’t make you smile, then you’ll never be happy.

We were heartbroken when the time came to leave but the memories still live strong with me over 30 years later.

A few weeks after arriving home Dad decided to put the caravan up for sale on the popular magazine at the time “Buy & Sell”. We had many callers to the house to take a look and a tidy profit was eventually made on his project. The profit was quickly invested into a bigger and better caravan for the following summer holiday as our family started to grow.

After our first caravan experience, I can now relate to when Fr. Dougal turned to Fr. Ted on first sight of their run-down caravan. 

I suppose it’s important to enjoy the little things in life as one day you look back and realise they were the big things.

With a good sturdy chassis as a foundation, and a father determined to prove everyone wrong, it’s incredible what you can achieve.