Now I never did Blackpool as a kid.
Dad worked in the leisure industry and with five young children mum left the annual jaunt to the sun and sand to the rest of the street.
But there will be plenty of people who have fond memories of Blackpool.
Its story is well documented, made possible by cheap train fares, paid holidays and the absence of those packages flights to the beaches of Spain and Greece.
Here in the north as Wakes Week rolled out across the Lancashire towns in strict sequence, families exchanged the drab streets of Ashton, Bolton, Bury and Stalybridge for the fun and sun which was Blackpool.
For many it was just a matter of saying goodbye on a Friday night at the work place and nodding to them on the railway station the following morning while waiting for the train heading for a clutch of seaside resorts across the north west coast.
And for the more adventurous there was also Yorkshire.
I well remember Mrs Nuttal causing a stir when she announced to the entire street that theirs was to be a camping holiday in Bridlington courtesy of Riley’s Coach Excursions “no place beyond the reach of our luxury fleet.”
Her husband however baulked at the idea of two days in Whitby, having seen the Brides of Dracula the week before at the Gaumont, and reckoning that one Yorkshire town was enough in any man’s life time.
To be fair having spent my time in the north east where the beaches are beautiful I can testify to that simple fact that the North Sea even in a heat wave can be cold.
All of which takes me back to Blackpool and the Tower which sadly on the day we went was closed.
No matter, when we return I have every confidence it will be open for business and like countless others we will be able to stare down from its observation platform to the tourist below.
A practice Peter assures me he did many times as a child, although I refuse to believe he would ever have knowingly dropped his ice cream from such a great height onto a passerby below.
That said he has come up trumps with his painting of the Tower which is one from his series “Holiday resorts I have painted.”
Location; Blackpool
Painting; Blackpool Tower © 2015 Peter Topping, Paintings from Pictures,
Web: www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk
Picture, postcard from Blackpool, 1929, courtesy of Bill Sumner
 |
| Blackpool Tower, 2015 |
But there will be plenty of people who have fond memories of Blackpool.
Its story is well documented, made possible by cheap train fares, paid holidays and the absence of those packages flights to the beaches of Spain and Greece.
Here in the north as Wakes Week rolled out across the Lancashire towns in strict sequence, families exchanged the drab streets of Ashton, Bolton, Bury and Stalybridge for the fun and sun which was Blackpool.
For many it was just a matter of saying goodbye on a Friday night at the work place and nodding to them on the railway station the following morning while waiting for the train heading for a clutch of seaside resorts across the north west coast.
 |
| Greetings from Blackpool, 1929 |
I well remember Mrs Nuttal causing a stir when she announced to the entire street that theirs was to be a camping holiday in Bridlington courtesy of Riley’s Coach Excursions “no place beyond the reach of our luxury fleet.”
Her husband however baulked at the idea of two days in Whitby, having seen the Brides of Dracula the week before at the Gaumont, and reckoning that one Yorkshire town was enough in any man’s life time.
To be fair having spent my time in the north east where the beaches are beautiful I can testify to that simple fact that the North Sea even in a heat wave can be cold.
All of which takes me back to Blackpool and the Tower which sadly on the day we went was closed.
No matter, when we return I have every confidence it will be open for business and like countless others we will be able to stare down from its observation platform to the tourist below.
That said he has come up trumps with his painting of the Tower which is one from his series “Holiday resorts I have painted.”
Location; Blackpool
Painting; Blackpool Tower © 2015 Peter Topping, Paintings from Pictures,
Web: www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk
Picture, postcard from Blackpool, 1929, courtesy of Bill Sumner
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