Old BUTLINS postcard BUTLIN'S IN THE BAHAMAS No. 2 RARE

Info from butlinsmemories.com ........"Billy Butlin took a vacation in the Bahamas in 1946 and saw the future potential of the area......Nearly 700 acres of land were purchased on the island of Grand Bahama, then just a sparsely populated area and home to a 'secret' American missile base.....The Vacation Village was intended to cater for middle class Americans and Canadians and was somewhat different to the camps back home. The whole village was to be designed with an 'olde worlde' English atmosphere and was to be staffed almost entirely with British workers. The chalets were also much more luxurious with each row named after a different British county. Daytime activities included dolphin fishing and the site was surrounded by miles of spectacular golden beaches. It even had its own currency, specially minted coins with the Queens head on one side......Despite being partly unfinished the village opened as planned in January 1950 and early bookings were encouraging. However the additional funding never did appear......In order to save the project and to recoup some of the investment, the whole village was put up for sale. Despite several promising enquiries it remained unsold and the company was eventually placed into liquidation in 1953. Billy Butlins personal loss was in the region of £200,000 (the equivalent of nearly £4 million today)".