The Art of New Year ……..

So, given that New Year’s Eve only happens once a year you only get one stab of featuring the art that said goodbye to the old year.

Now I think you are either a Christmas or New Year person, and I and my family are definitely Christmas.

There were a few years when the attractions of alcoholic excess seemed attractive but they were accompanied with a hangover and a wasted following day.

Nor did I ever feel the need to party away with a heap of strangers in in a hotel eating food that was overpriced and pretentious.

But lots of people did and still do and I wouldn’t knock them for that.

So instead, here are two pieces of New Year art, courtesy of Suzanne Morehead whose parents danced the night away having had the full menu.

Back in the day, we saw it in with the kids, and in the absence of that insane bout of fireworks would hear the ships sirens from the docks welcoming in another year. 

Location any one of a shedload of New Year’s Eves

Pictures; from various hotels, 1947-1969, from the collection of Suzanne Morehead

The art of Christmas ………. part three

The third in the series featuring festive menus from Blackpool hotels covering the period from the late 1940s through to 1969.

They come from the collection of Suzanne Morehead who kindly passed them over to me a few years ago.

I have always planned to use them in a series but always missed the boat of featuring them at Christmas, and running the stories in April seemed a bit daft.

What I particularly like about them is the artwork, which is a style I remember so well from the period.

1947 will have been the first Christmas after the war that many people decided it was time to spend the holiday away in a hotel letting someone else do the business of coking cleaning and entertaining.

And even given the restrictions of rationing and shortages it will have been an attractive proposition, even though it will have been restricted to a handful of the well off.

But during the 1950s into the 60s with growing prosperity and rising expectations there will have been more who fancied a Christmas or New Year away.

Location, Blackpool, 1947-69

Pictures; from various hotels, 1947-1969, from the collection of Suzanne Morehead

The art of Christmas ………. part two

The second in the series featuring festive menus from Blackpool hotels covering the period from the late 1940s through to 1969.

They come from the collection of Suzanne Morehead who kindly passed them over to me a few years ago.

I have always planned to use them in a series but always missed the boat of featuring them at Christmas, and running the stories in April seemed a bit daft.

What I particularly like about them is the artwork, which is a style I remember so well from the period.

And to the social historian or the nosey there is an insight into what the hotels offered over the holiday.

So from 1958, Redman’s Park House Hotel began Christmas Day with “Breakfast between 8.30 am to 9.15”.

After which guests could participate in “Snooker, Billiards and Table Tennis Competitions”.

Luncheon was at 1 pm with “The Queen’s Christmas Day Broadcast on Television and Sound Radio” at 3, followed by an appearance of Father Christmas at 3,30.

At 4 there was “Afternoon Tea and the Children’s Party” with the Christmas Banquet from 7 pm.

The evening was rounded off with “Games, Sing song and the Delta Variety Show” between 8.30 pm to 12.0 midnight, finishing with two hours of “Dancing with the Band”.

Location; Blackpool, 1948-1969

Pictures; from various hotels, 1947-1969, from the collection of Suzanne Morehead

The art of Christmas ………. part one

I am back with how hotels have celebrated Christmas in the past.

And so with that in mind I thought I would visit a series of festive menus from Blackpool hotels covering the period from the late 1940s through to 1969.

They come from the collection of Suzanne Morehead who kindly passed them over to me a few years ago.

I have planned to use them in a series, but always missed the boat of featuring them at Christmas, and running the stories in April seemed a bit daft.

So here over the next few days are a selection.

What I particularly like about them is the artwork, which is a style I remember so well from when I was growing up.

And for the social historian or the nosey, there is an insight into what the hotels offered over the holiday.

So from 1958, Redman’s Park House Hotel began Christmas Day with “Breakfast between 8.30 am to 9.15”.

After which guests could participate in “Snooker, Billiards and Table Tennis Competitions”.

Luncheon was at 1 pm with “The Queen’s Christmas Day Broadcast on Television and Sound Radio” at 3. followed by an appearance of Father Christmas at 3,30.

At 4, there was “Afternoon Tea and the Children’s Party” with the Christmas Banquet from 7 pm.

The evening was rounded off with “Games, Sing song and the Delta Variety Show” between 8.30 pm to 12.0 midnight, finishing with two hours of “Dancing with the Band”.

Location; Blackpool, 1948-1969

Pictures; from various hotels, 1947-1969, from the collection of Suzanne Morehead

“I lost my garter …… while going to buy this card”

Now, losing a garter and telling the world is a pretty public thing to do.

Just how the sender lost the garter, or what happened afterwards is not included.

All I know is that the card was sent to an address in New Brighton, in the evening of August 2nd, 1917.

And that the sender might have lived in Ancoats.

The card was produced by the Corona Publishing Company of Blackpool, and according to one source produced a mix of Saucy cards with more conventional “view cards”*

Their Blackpool address was 48 Coronation Street, which is one of those roads behind the Tower, and a search revealed that in 2019 this was The Treasure Shop, established in 1943 and selling jewelry.

Location; Manchester

Picture; Bring the sugar, 1917, from the collection of David Harrop

*The Corona Publishing Company of London and Blackpool; http://www.hertfordshire-genealogy.co.uk/data/projects/FS/Publishers/Corona.htm

When a poster made you happy ....... walking back to the 1920s

Just suppose said Peter “we took a style of poster popular in the 1920s and 30s and used it to advertise places we like today......... now that would be fun”

And I agreed with him which is as good an introduction to Posters from the Past as you get.*

Tomorrow Peter will explain the story behind the new series.

And that until tomorrow is all I have to say.

Location; Blackpool

Poster; Blackpool, © 2016 Peter Topping

Web: www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk

 *Posters from the Past, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Posters%20from%20the%20Past

A tram, the Tower and a bit of sun and sand ........... Blackpool on a day out

Now I have to confess that I have only visited Blackpool three times and have never travelled on one of the trams.

All of which is my loss.

The first time was a family holiday now lost in the mists of history, the second was a trip to the Tower and the last was part of a day spent touring the coast.

Now according to one source, “the Blackpool tramway runs from Blackpool to Fleetwood on the Fylde Coast in Lancashire, England. 

It was the last surviving first-generation tramway in the United Kingdom until it was replaced by a fleet of modern Supertrams in 2012. 

However, today the traditional trams still provide a 'heritage service' on weekends, bank holidays and during the summer. 

The line dates back to 1885 and is one of the oldest electric tramways in the world. 

It is operated by Blackpool Transport (BTS), and runs for 11 miles and carries 6,500,000 passengers each year.”*

All of which is enough history and tram facts as you are going to get.

Instead I suggest you go looking for this tram which local artist Peter Topping painted on one of his more frequent trips to the resort.

But then he is a Preston man unlike me who was born  and brought up in south East London and had to rely on Brighton and Clacton for a bit of sea side fun neither of which had a tram






Painting; Blackpool Tram © Peter Topping, Paintings from Pictures,
Web: www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk 
Facebook:  Paintings from Pictures

*Blackpool tramway, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackpool_tramway

From the top of Blackpool Tower ............... you can see Peter’s mobile home

Now I never did Blackpool as a kid.

Blackpool Tower, 2015

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.

Greetings from Blackpool, 1929

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

Out in Blackpool and a picture to remember

I just like this picture.

It was posted by Adge on facebook recently and shows his mum, her sister and a friend on a day out at Blackpool.

Many of us will have similar pictures taken on a whim and kept as a reminder of a happy day.

Back then sitting in the studio with the painted backdrop and the impressive looking car was just one of the things you did along with the tram ride, the kiss me quick hat and of course a walk along the prom and a visit to the Tower.

But on a more serious note they are part of our history, when people still paid for a professional photographer to do the business.

They might be the serious ones recording that special family event or like this one a moment of fun.

As Adge recalled, "my mum went on a few 'Ladies Drives' from the local pub many years ago, got a few of her enjoying a day out, free from looking after all the kids."

I have come across quite a few  recently while researching the book on Manchester and the Great War.

Here are young men in uniform sometimes with a sweetheart but more often as part of a family shot including the man’s wife children.

The painted backdrop and props maybe different but invariably they look the same.

The couple stare back with stiff unsmiling expressions, and the children on their best behaviour.

That said our picture is one of those where everyone smiles back at the camera, perhaps in anticipation of the fish supper to come.

Of course today with camera phones and the era of the “selfie” all that has changed.

So a thank you to Adge for giving me permission to reproduce it.

Picture; “Mam and her sister and friend on a day out in Blackpool” courtesy of Adge Lane

Coming soon ........... Posters from the Past

Yep, coming soon, a new series of posters we would have liked to have seen from eight decades ago.

Location; the 1920s and 30s




Posters;  Blackpool, © 2016 Peter Topping
Web: www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk