A Spin on the London Eye

Saturday 30 November 2002. There's some sort of event on in Wembley on Sunday 1 December so Fran and I are staying in a Premier Inn at Wembley for the weekend. I can't quite remember what it was advertised as, but there was a large record fair and a particular draw was that both actresses Caroline Munro and Ingrid Pitt were to be there. We had met them both some five years previously and thought it would be fun to meet up again.

9:30am Saturday morning we head for Waterloo Station on the Underground. We had decided to try to get on the London Eye. At this time of morning there were no queues. We got tickets and walked straight on.

Whilst we were near the bottom it was interesting watching the pods discharge and take on passengers!

There's a fabulous view all the way around and it's easy to spot landmarks such as St Paul's and Big Ben.

There were few enough people in each pod to be able to get to a window to allow a good viewpoint.

It wasn't what you would call the sunniest of mornings - the view must be even better when it's sunny. But given that we are on the last day of November, we can't really expect sunny skies and weather fit for t-shirts and shorts.

At the top of the wheel with the next pod on the same level. The pod looks very space age!

Starting to come down. The whole trip takes half an hour. A great view of the Houses of Parliament, or the Palace of Westminster whichever floats your boat. Though if you're going to be picky then your boat is the one turning sideways further up the river past Vauxhall Bridge...

After passengers leave a pod it is scanned with metal detectors before anyone else can enter. This is done quite quickly so that the wheel isn't forced to stop to long each time a pod unloads and loads.

As we walk away to wonder what to do next we notice a piece of blue string fastened to a lamp post - obviously the lamp post too was trying to remember something...

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Third Blackpool 1977 Photo Album 5 - Pleasure Beach At Night

I seem to be spending all my time back in 1977 at the moment! This time we travel back without endangering the Space-Time Continuum to have a look round the Pleasure Beach during September/October 1977. It's likely that these photos were not all taken on the same visit.

We'll start by heading into the Pleasure Beach through the north entrance. I always think of this as the main entrance. To the left is the Casino Building and in front of us is Noah's Ark with the Hiram Maxim Flying Machine visible behind it.

The latter ride could be seen to advantage from a balcony reached by walking up a flight of steps at the side of the Ghost Train. It could also be accessed from the side of the Gold Mine ride up on the raised platform above Watson Road.

Another view from ground level with the Grand National and Auto Shooter* in the foreground. [*Edit: Should be Auto "Skooter" - thanks to the commenter below]

Having walked in through the north entrance, a turn to the right brings us onto the main route towards the Big Wheels, The Whip, Wild Mouse and River Caves.

Following this route brings us towards Watson Road, on the other side of which is the station for the Big Dipper, underneath the iconic first turn.

The tear drop shaped finial was still only three years old in 1977, having replaced a spherical finial (say that 3 times fast!) that had long been in place.

The double Big Wheel - they were Ferris Wheels, having been designed by the Ferris company - had a huge figure of a clown articulated to look as though the figure was cranking the northernmost wheel around. At some point the clown's head was replaced with Mr Funshine's head, this not necessarily being an improvement.

A row of sideshow stalls sited opposite The Monster ride and leading up to the northern station of the Cableway and the Fun House. The 1922 Reel can be seen behind the row.

The wonderful Fun House. It had lots of traditional fun attractions inside - a walk-through rolling barrel, a spinning disk that threw riders off, huge wooden slides and a shorter metal one with a near-vertical drop, cakewalk etc.

A glimpse of the Space Tower from a spot in front of the Alice in Wonderland ride. The top of the Ghost Train can be seen on the left.

The Space Tower was so successful that a smaller version was created aimed at younger visitors.

The Ghost Train. Mainly a dark ride, it had two small loops on the track where the car came out into open air. One is partially visible to the left. These helped promote the ride to visitors passing outside. There was also a single dip which again came out into the open at the rear of the station, clearly visible here.

And I'll end this time with a shot of the Gold Mine which was accessed from the raised level above Watson Road. I used to love the Gold Mine, it too was a dark ride but had fast running sections where the small car whizzed down a track, swerving past little tableaux of miners and equipment. At one point it emerged into an open space over the boats of the River Caves and became visible to patrons of a small cafe.

I'm drawing to the end of this particular photo album. The final article has only a few photos left to show us. They will show some of Blackpool's illuminated tram fleet.

Return to Blackpool Pleasure Beach Index Page

The Big Wheel Cafe

In April 1983 we went out over the River Wyre to have a look for a curiosity I had wanted to find for some time.

On the Out Rawcliffe road from St Michaels was a cafe that had been once connected to a petrol station, though that had since been demolished. The cafe extension is the last surviving carriage from the Blackpool Ferris Wheel, demolished in 1928.

At the time, the carriages had been sold off to be used as summer houses and greenhouses and this one, which can still be seen by the roadside, was and is the only one left to remind us of that great Big Wheel that is such a feature of early Blackpool postcards.

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I've Been for a Spin!

A beautiful day in Blackpool! And here's a view of St John's church tower from an angle you don't often get to see!

We set out early this morning to our favourite cafe, Quilligan's, for breakfast. As we walked in Sean told us we had just missed David and Jeannie by 5 minutes. So we met up to find David with his camera round his neck fancying a go on the Big Wheel that's appeared in St John's Square.

I didn't have my camera with me so the photos here have been taken on my mobile phone. The big wheel is there until May so hopefully I'll get a chance to take some better quality photos before it goes.

This is the view looking down Church Street. The Winter Gardens is first on the left and the new street lighting posts which have projectors so that designs float up and down the street at night. The green dome of the Grand Theatre can be seen further down the street and then the sea and Tower forming the backdrop. At the very top left of the photo can be seen the Central Pier with its own Big Wheel.

Looking north east over Cedar Square and Topping Street towards the bus station. Above it, sticking up on the horizon, is the water tower at the top of the last hill before the ground slopes down towards Bispham and Thornton and the River Wyre.

And then home to put up the kitchen blind I've been putting off for weeks... It was just as frustrating and fiddly as I expected...

Site of the Big Wheel

Margot was having problems placing the Big Wheel where I suggested, so I hope this helps.

This is the same photo as before except I've drawn round the outline of the Horsehoe Pavilion in the Winter Gardens.

Then I've highlighted a feature in both this and the photo below which I believe to be the same glass arched roof, which is now over the Coronation Street entrance to the Winter Gardens, but which cannot be seen from inside the building.

In fact the two photographs look to have been taken from pretty much the same spot, with Coronation Street running off to the left and Adelaide Street running off at the junction up the side of the site.

Oh and wonderful! She's got another challenge for us, folks - see the entry above (give me a few moments to write it!)

Blackpool Olympia Funfair

After the photo Margot sent in of the two lion cubs in the Olympia building she wrote:

I dont know what more I can tell you about the Olympia building other than it was all entertainments, like I recall a roundabout in there and side stalls and slot machines. I also recall the Ideal Home exhibition being held there every year.

Yes I remember going in there to play slot machines during the 1960s and then in the late 1970s and early 1980s there was a full funfair in there.

My photo from 1981 shows a late version of it but by then it was usually quite deserted and the funfair disappeared not long afterwards.

At one time I remember a big wheel in there that took you right up into the roof! After the funfair disappeared the space was used for big exhibitions like the Ideal Homes and Travel/Holiday exhibitions and for a while it became a children's adventure playground.

Before the Olympia was built, the site was occupied by the Ferris Wheel or "Big Wheel" that was as famous a sight as the Tower in the 1920s.

With the success of the London Eye, the local paper has reported that there are plans to build a similar wheel on the new widened Promenade.

That's the thing with wheels, you see - they go round in circles...!

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