Blackpool, Lancashire

My memories of Blackpool

I remember my parents taking us children to see the Blackpool illuminations as a birthday treat, where we would see all kinds of animations along the prominade and all the trams where also lit up, that was some 48yrs ago. I don't know if this still happens, enjoy.

Visiting Blackpool Illuminations as a child.

Around the year 1950 a coach would take all the children in our road on a trip to see Blackpool Lights. Those days they called the coach a charabanc.  Does anybody remember that name?  How happy all the children would be going on that trip to Blackpool. I remember very well  leaving in the early evening on the coach with our parents so excited. And arriving at Blackpool and riding up the promenade so mesmerized at all the pretty lights and all the differant themes of nursery rhymes.  We would have hot baked potatoes on our trip home and always returned with a stick of Blackpool Rock. Happy memories of yesteryear!

Chubby at the Winter Gardens

We drove to Blackpool on our way back from Gretna after getting married. Went to see Chubby Brown at the Winter Gardens. Beautiful building, a great night and a lot of laughs. x

Days out in Blackpool in the Forties and Fifties

Between the years 1944 and 1956 my family and I lived in Preston, Lancashire and from there it was only a short ride on the train or bus to Blackpool, where we spent many happy days. This photo shows the sands and the wooden steps up to the promenade as I remember them. My mother preferred to go to Lytham, where it was quieter and more select, but there was far more to do at Blackpool, where we spent hours on the sands, paddling in the sea or building sandcastles. When the tide was up we played in the paddling pool or went on one of the three piers. Also there were donkey rides - I remember falling off my donkey! We never went up the tower - I can't think why - that was a treat I saved until I was able to bring my partner from Germany to Blackpool in 1991. However the sands could be treacherous - I remember there was one point where the water came in quickly, arching round through a channel hard by the sea wall and anyone on the sand between the channel and the open sea found themselves cut off by the incoming tide - that happened to me once and I had to run like the wind and splash through the channel to reach the steps up to the promenade. I've been to Blackpool from Preston since living in Frankfurt and I've found that nothing has been done to remedy this situation - the channel is still there, a trap for the unwary. Most people remember the illuminations - I think I saw them only once before we left Preston, because my parents preferred to leave the place before they were switched on, but nowadays when I stay in Preston during October and spend the day in Blackpool, it's the illuminations I come to see.

Blackpool Pocket Album

Sail boats and bathing machines dominate the beach area between the North Pier and the South Jetty. In the distance we get some idea of the development of this end of the town.

Blackpool Pocket Album

As with many seaside resorts, one of the popular attractions was a trip in a boat. At Blackpool, sailing boats were often loaded and unloaded by means of portable gangways, one of which is in the picture. In the background is the North Pier, with an excursion steamer alongside its landing stage. This picture was taken from the South Jetty.

Lancashire - A Second Selection Photographic Memories

If you think something is missing amongst the buildings overlooking North Pier you are right, for Blackpool Tower was not begun until 1891. Yet the resort’s popularity was already well established and bathing machines and horse-drawn traps line the sands. A wheeled jetty facilitates embarkation for a leisurely sail, whilst the more energetic take their exercise in a rowing boat.