Days Out In Blackpool In The Forties And Fifties

A Memory of Blackpool.

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.