Eastenders and Gavin & Stacey star Larry Lamb’s first outdoor experience was on a youth hostelling holiday in the late 1950s. Seven decades later, after reading about YHA’s No Child Left Behind appeal, he was moved to make a donation and has now become an ambassador for the campaign.
“When I was 11 years of age, my father, brother and I went on holiday,” Larry Lamb tells The Journey, reminiscing about his first hostelling experiences. “We had a budget of £11 and a free ride out of London. There were these institutions called youth hostels where you could stay. We arrived at the hostel in Hungerford, in Berkshire, for our first stop, and we then started hitchhiking across the West Country staying in other hostels. It made me realise there was much more of the world out there than going and spending a week in Southend, Clacton or Harwich.”
For the celebrated actor — who has dozens of film and TV credits to his name — this formative experience led him to get involved when he discovered that YHA had been badly affected by the pandemic and cost-of-living crisis. After reading about our No Child Left Behind appeal, which aims to ensure disadvantaged young people get the chance to take school trips, he decided to do something to help.
“I thought, this is a terrible thing. There are still millions of young kids whose parents don’t have cars or can’t afford to take a holiday, and don’t even have the opportunity to go and have a look around an area of the country.
“There are plenty of young kids in a similar situation to the one I was in back in 1957, and we’re now in 2023, which I find beyond preposterous. So I thought I’d put some money in. In its own little way, that youth hostelling trip was a significant part of my life.”
Larry recounts how, in 1957, his uncle had given them a lift out of London at the start of their trip, leaving them two miles from the hostel door because of a policy where it was cheaper if you turned up on foot or bike. Despite wrestling with a sheet sleeping bag, the trio soon started enjoying the adventure. In Bath they befriended a couple of German boys — the first such people he’d ever met — and they also went swimming in the Roman baths.
“It really opened my eyes,” Larry remembers. “It opened my eyes to ancient history when we went to see the baths. I’ve since been a real history nut, visiting sites like that all over the Roman world.”
“We then went to Bristol, and a hostel near Weston-super-Mare. Those experiences as a little boy were really made possible because we could stay in these youth hostels for next to nothing. They enabled me as a kid to get a look around the country.”
Larry explains how the trip led directly to a life of exploration and travel, spending a lot of time in Germany and France. It’s a story that ultimately led him into TV, appearing in a whole host of classic British TV shows, including Eastenders and Gavin & Stacey, as well as enjoying a stellar theatre and movie career.
“Travelling is always about the journey, not just the place you’re going. I’ve been travelling ever since that trip to the West Country. You have to learn to understand what travelling means. It’s about opening kids’ eyes, it’s about helping their parents to give what most parents want to give their children, and that’s a chance to see the world. Anything that enables kids to get a view of the world from a different standpoint is important.”
And for Larry, his thirst for travel in Britain has never abated. “With my boy George, we did a series called Britain by Bike and the pair of us were completely sideswiped by what we saw. To go to the Isles of Scilly, the Outer Hebrides, the Cairngorms, Eryri (Snowdonia), Pembrokeshire and the New Forest, you realise just what an extraordinary little world there is in Britain.”
No Child Left Behind
YHA’s No Child Left Behind appeal gives children access to adventures at a time when school budgets are tighter, household bills are higher and, as a result, more school residential trips are being cancelled. Countless children are affected, but those from low-income families could be missing out on their only chance of a night away from home. Please give what you can to help make sure no child is left behind. Your donation will give young people access to the outdoors, adventure and the milestone moments that transform confidence and improve health and wellbeing.
