Proud to be sandgrown

Whatever else can be said about Blackpool, one things for sure.
The tower ballroom is an absolute masterpiece.
I’d arranged for a relation from Australia to play the Wurlitzer, as a birthday surprise.
It got canned, because of covid!☹️
Serves you right you treacherous nobber you ! 😉
 
Maybe a few trees and some green spaces would be a welcome addition, particularly in the town centre and Bond street areas.
Massive green space next to stanly park and behind the hospital but the council want to build an adrenaline park on it🤦‍♂️
 
I worked 4 seasons plus at the Tower when I was a - very - mature student - I did one complete season as a Tower Ballroom Bar Supervisor (50p extra an hour) - once Uni finished I was doing 50/60 hour weeks at the height of summer and into the illuminations.

The atmosphere even in a fairly empty ballroom was great but when full and with the organists or Andy Pryor’s Big Band playing it was absolutely electric, hard work but a fantastic amount of fun and I can still remember the feeling it gave you.

Though inside I always said the view from the bar into the ballroom was one of the most beautiful in the World. People obviously agreed as some visitors came back a number of times in the summer just to dance or to watch the dancing.

The strange footsteps, scraping of chairs and tables and doors closing when the Tower was shut and empty and I was opening up early obviously attracted visitors from other parts of the “World” too!

But the atmosphere was always one of enjoyment and has bled into the walls, ceiling and of course the dance floor and seeps out and affects your mood. If you have never been in I strongly suggest you make the effort one day, even if its just to sit and stare at its beauty, but I bet you can’t help smiling as those good vibes soak into you.
Did you ever "see" the Edwardian chap in cape and top hat?
Or the old couple who frequented the tea dances?👻👻
 
Massive green space next to stanly park and behind the hospital but the council want to build an adrenaline park on it🤦‍♂️
Sounds horrendous but I'm sure it will appeal to many.
My thinking is that the most attractive and chilled cities I've been to incorporate nature into the urban areas. Even much of London does this with the little park squares and trees everywhere.
Don't want to sound like a complete hippy but I think it is good for your mental health. I haven't been to any more treeless less green areas than central Blackpool and it has more than it's fair share of mental health problems. Maybe there is a bit of a link.
 
Sounds horrendous but I'm sure it will appeal to many.
My thinking is that the most attractive and chilled cities I've been to incorporate nature into the urban areas. Even much of London does this with the little park squares and trees everywhere.
Don't want to sound like a complete hippy but I think it is good for your mental health. I haven't been to any more treeless less green areas than central Blackpool and it has more than it's fair share of mental health problems. Maybe there is a bit of a link.
Blackpool has less green and blue space than anywhere else in the north west.
Government aims for 35% of a town/city to be this, Blackpool is in the region of 22% and yet the council still want to rid the town of more green space.
It beggars belief.
 
Or, you know, improve social conditions instead of chasing a fantasy exodus
Might work, but let’s not forget, many of those we’re talking about have come from out of town, already on benefits, drug users and chose to live by the sea instead of wherever they came from. I’m not sure improving social conditions will change their behaviour.
 
Blackpool has less green and blue space than anywhere else in the north west.
Government aims for 35% of a town/city to be this, Blackpool is in the region of 22% and yet the council still want to rid the town of more green space.
It beggars belief.
I thought the beach and sea air was good for your all round well-being, that’s why people come here on holiday.
 
I thought the beach and sea air was good for your all round well-being, that’s why people come here on holiday.
They are good but can we not do better than a soulless, tatty, decaying urban backdrop to go alongside it. That isn't all of Blackpool but the lack of trees and green spaces in the central areas makes certain areas very ugly. I think that effects peoples mental well being.
 
Did you ever "see" the Edwardian chap in cape and top hat?
Or the old couple who frequented the tea dances?👻👻
I didn’t ever see anybody, but I heard them plenty, was the same in the family bar near Jungle Jims - The Hornpipe Galley where I did my first season - deserted early season one Tuesday night when footsteps clearly walked across the food court but nobody attached to any shoes I could see!

Mind you it was nothing like The Tower Lounge where I ended my “career” it was like Dawn of the Dead every weekend by closing time in there, but a riot to work in such mayhem!
 
They are good but can we not do better than a soulless, tatty, decaying urban backdrop to go alongside it. That isn't all of Blackpool but the lack of trees and green spaces in the central areas makes certain areas very ugly. I think that effects peoples mental well being.
I agree, it’s horrible and frankly embarrassing. Whether the regeneration planned will improve it only time will tell. For me, flatten the lot and start again.
 
I didn’t ever see anybody, but I heard them plenty, was the same in the family bar near Jungle Jims - The Hornpipe Galley where I did my first season - deserted early season one Tuesday night when footsteps clearly walked across the food court but nobody attached to any shoes I could see!

Mind you it was nothing like The Tower Lounge where I ended my “career” it was like Dawn of the Dead every weekend by closing time in there, but a riot to work in such mayhem!
My eldest worked in jungle Jim's and often heard a kiddy tapping on the inside of the door after they'd cleaned down and shut up for the day.
When checking it out, always found nothing👻

The circus is meant to be bad too😁
 
And instead of scrapping our 18 hole McKenzie designed Golf Course , invest in it and make it worth visiting .
Yes it’s a lovely course so keep the green space and spend money on lots of trees to help the environment. Always proud to be sandgrown my parents moved from Preston after the war, imagine being born there 😧
 
My eldest worked in jungle Jim's and often heard a kiddy tapping on the inside of the door after they'd cleaned down and shut up for the day.
When checking it out, always found nothing👻

The circus is meant to be bad too😁
From the reception on Bank Hey the staff rooms are/were down the stairs. When working in the Lounge you walked via the back of the Circus Ring, under Bank Hey then up stairs to the Lounge, these “tunnels” were usually darkish, and, depending on your shift, sometimes the performers were hanging about.

It was a good idea not to have watched Stephen King’s IT the night before and then have to bump into Mooky with a bag of till floats over your shoulder as screaming like a girl is frowned on when a show was on!

Also remember having to get all the “Tower Toppers” (plastic tower hats) that nobody ever bought from the various bars in the Lounge and take them down to the Circus as there was a big crowd in to watch some comic I’d never heard of as they were filming his show for a video release and management thought it would be good advertising for the Tower if the audience were wearing them.

I often wonder if that young man from Bolton called Peter Kay ever made it big!
 
From the reception on Bank Hey the staff rooms are/were down the stairs. When working in the Lounge you walked via the back of the Circus Ring, under Bank Hey then up stairs to the Lounge, these “tunnels” were usually darkish, and, depending on your shift, sometimes the performers were hanging about.

It was a good idea not to have watched Stephen King’s IT the night before and then have to bump into Mooky with a bag of till floats over your shoulder as screaming like a girl is frowned on when a show was on!

Also remember having to get all the “Tower Toppers” (plastic tower hats) that nobody ever bought from the various bars in the Lounge and take them down to the Circus as there was a big crowd in to watch some comic I’d never heard of as they were filming his show for a video release and management thought it would be good advertising for the Tower if the audience were wearing them.

I often wonder if that young man from Bolton called Peter Kay ever made it big!
🤣🤣🤣
 
I didn’t ever see anybody, but I heard them plenty, was the same in the family bar near Jungle Jims - The Hornpipe Galley where I did my first season - deserted early season one Tuesday night when footsteps clearly walked across the food court but nobody attached to any shoes I could see!

Mind you it was nothing like The Tower Lounge where I ended my “career” it was like Dawn of the Dead every weekend by closing time in there, but a riot to work in such mayhem!
I did two seasons in there before I came down to London, I was a grade one supervisor on the buffet bar in the lounge and did more than my fair share of stints on Ballroom 1. ** hard work but great fun !
 
I did two seasons in there before I came down to London, I was a grade one supervisor on the buffet bar in the lounge and did more than my fair share of stints on Ballroom 1. ** hard work but great fun !
Ahh the Buffet, I was on the more bespoke and refined Cafe Bar in the corner 😜
 
Served my time there mainly the Tower but also the Winter Gardens & Central Beach Amusements, plus a few visits into the Grand Theatre which was saved from demolition by FFing bingo. So some good did come from bingo, 1975-80 the grand was reputed to be haunted but I never saw or heard anything at any of the buildings. There however was a door backstage at the Grand with a heavy metal latch that would stick & drop with a clunk sometime later. There were a few tricks played on people working there who were a bit nervous about the place, surprised one didn’t have a heart attack after some of his workmates jumped out on him in the balcony area in the Grand. One thing for sure is the characters who worked there, absolutely fascinating & their stories were something I’ll never forget. No wonder I love history.
How did I forget mentioning the boozing, how we all weren’t sacked is beyond belief.
 
Blackpool has less green and blue space than anywhere else in the north west.
Government aims for 35% of a town/city to be this, Blackpool is in the region of 22% and yet the council still want to rid the town of more green space.
It beggars belief.
Big blue space to the west of the beach
 
Might work, but let’s not forget, many of those we’re talking about have come from out of town, already on benefits, drug users and chose to live by the sea instead of wherever they came from. I’m not sure improving social conditions will change their behaviour.
You don’t count importing of mental health patients and exporting of qualified young people as social conditions?
 
Maybe a few trees and some green spaces would be a welcome addition, particularly in the town centre and Bond street areas.
There's a big effort underway lot of trees planted probably in easy areas at first with grass already present. But they do need to then do the central area and probably some ground works like they have on Edward Street near the market in town when they did the street makeover. Should be much more to come.


Palm trees
Palm trees look fantastic like outside the club, have grown a fair bit since I last saw them in person.

OK they aren't actually palms officially as I know from my recent purchases but they look it they are the common ones people get and they look great, adds real holiday place vibe especially when sunny.

The have them right outside Bloomfield road and all down that side of stadium and they have shot up seemingly.

Pic from gazette

QVNIMTIwNTg0Mzkx.jpg
 
My Mum met my Dad at a dance at the Winter Gardens when he was stationed here in the RAF during WW2. What else is there left to say? 🧡👍
 
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