Hotel For Teen-agers

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30919, 27 November 1965, Page 5

Hotel For Teen-agers

IVOISE and enjoyment go naturally together for many youngsters today, and this is one of the most frequent causes of friction between them and older people at some of Britain’s seaside holiday resorts.

England’s south coast town of Bognor Regis has embarked on what promises to be a successful solution to the problem of pleasing both age groups by opening a hotel, the Caribbean, reserved exclusively for boys and girls in their teens and early twenties. In a recent edition of the 8.8.C.’s “English Magazine" from the West of England, Frank Hennig reported on this non-profit-making venture and interviewed the man who has brought it into being, Eric St. John Fogarty, who has a family of 24 youngsters mostly adopted. Mr Fogarty pointed out that, although youth clubs did a great deal for young people, their attraction began to fade

when a boy or girl was 16 or so. Such youngsters needed a place where they could be together and enjoy the sort of holiday they liked without adult restrictions, yet with some unobtrusive supervision. The Bognor Town Council had approached him with the idea of providing dancing and recreational facilities for young people in two oldfashioned hotels on the seafront which were fading into decay.

Under his direction the teen-agers themselves had converted these rather dismal buildings into the Caribbean —which on the ground floor is a honeycomb of connecting rooms, mostly for dancing, with ultra-violet lights which throw an eerie glow, a secluded lounge, and coffeebar restaurant. There are juke boxes, pintables and fruit machines which take pennies only, so that gambling is limited to a very modest scale, and no alcohol is served in the bar.

The weekly charge includes all meals, sailing instructions for those who want it, and for foreign visitors—of whom

there have already been a number —tuition in English.

The Caribbean can accommodate as many as 140 guests at a time, and in addition the Shoreline Club on the ground floor, which provides the hotel’s night life, is open to non-residents for a small subscription.

When Hennig questioned some of the youngsters staying there he found that they particularly appreciated the freedom to have meals whenever they liked instead of at set times, and the feeling that they could enjoy themselves without either disturbing adults or being criticised by them, and were trusted to go on holiday on their own. The experiment, he said had won the attention not only of youth leaders all over Britain, but in many other countries. So far, there had not been a single case of rowdyism at the Caribbean, and it was Mr Fogarty’s firm belief that the only real answer to the problem of teen-age rowdyism, which has troubled some seaside resorts, was to give adolescents an outlet for their energies in a setting where there would be no reproachful looks from grown-ups.

Across I—A doctor with us. he had

been waylaid. (8) s—Slanting piece from a cask, ewer, etc. (4) 9 —Many take coat to sit on. (5)

10 — Garment made to be worn outside? (7) 11— Prospect for those flying? (W, 4) 13— Do the best one can with bent rivets. (6) 14— Tower designer can feel if it’s round. (6) 17—Part of speech you’ll see before! (12) 20 — Ports don’t begin as shady retreats. (7) 21— For nine players, and there’s nothing to stop the balls. (5) 22 Trifles with playthings. (4)

23—Swaggering but windy! (8)

Down 1— Cunning bridge supporter. (4) 2 Can keep one warm in a bizarre sort of way. (7) 3 He was on to a good fiddle! (12) 4 Worn away, do reed anew. (6) 6 Uniform colour. (5) 7 Needs two springs? lam surprised! (4, 4) 8— Order drinks. (12) 12—Train wild snake first, aiming high. (8) 15— Hanging strip with small weight at the end. (7) 16— Woman is the weaker? It , might hold water! (6) 18— Flap near to cat. (5) 19— Don’t go for prop. (4)

(Solution on P. 13.)