1977 Photographic Album 2 - Carnival Parade

The second set of photos from my recently unearthed photo album from 1977 show a carnival parade along Blackpool's Promenade. I think this is the Round Table's carnival but am quite happy to be corrected via comment or email! This was just about a year after we moved to Blackpool so even annual events were being seen for the first time!

These pancake-tossing lovelies are wearing t-shirts advertising the Mecca Ballroom. Situated on Central Drive this was a popular venue at the time and I'm sure just the mention of its name will stir lots of memories for people who used to go to the Mecca venues all over the country.

The "Captain" of this float, mocked up like a Mississippi paddle steamer - not a common sight off Blackpool usually... 1977 was the Queen's Silver Jubilee year so lots of floats were decked out (I can't help it...) in red, white and blue!

The float of Blackpool Transport Car Club. The Ford Escort on the back of the float would be four or five years old, the Mk.I Escort came out in 1968 and was a delight to drive, thought by many to be the first truly modern small car. It replaced the Ford Anglia and was in production for quite some time through six versions until it was replaced by the Focus in 2002.

My mind draws almost a total blank on this one. If anyone can identify the couple please let me know. I have a vague feeling they were entertainers, though at what venue I've no idea...

Strange how I seem to have chosen to point the camera primarily at pretty girls... But hey! Look at that teepee! She's laughing at the antics of her partner who was called Streaker. No... not Streaker... Running Bear! That's it!

The Fylde, as the wider region in which Blackpool sits is known, is famous for windmills. Even today you can still find at least six and there are another two "over Wyre" as the region north of the River Wyre is known.

I hope you've enjoyed this glimpse of 1977. It's rare now, just 37 years later, to find a carnival parade with floats that have had so much work devoted to them. The dreaded Health & Safety ethos of modern times has not so much directly stopped these things, but the relentless pursuit of blame and threat of legal action in case of what used to be called accidents would now make any lorry owner and driver wary of accepting a temporary structure with people standing on top of a moving vehicle. A great shame. How did we all survive such foolish and dangerous times?

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Old Photographs and a Touch of Glamour

It's been a busy old time! I know you were expecting the next instalment of the long weekend and that will come soon I promise.

This explains some of the stuff I've been spending time on recently. I mentioned a while ago that a new scanner had brought the possibilities of scanning my larger 120 film negatives. These are two and a quarter inches (6cm) square. Therefore they carry the potential for much better quality than 35mm film.

Here's an example of a shot I took in 1979 of country star George Hamilton IV

He was taking part in the annual carnival parade along the Promenade and had to put up with being squashed next to that year's Carnival Queen. I'd have stepped in if he hadn't wanted to...

I also mentioned that I'd been given the loan of some old negatives of Blackpool from 1968 and here's a sample.

The old UCP shop on the site later taken by Clarkes's Shoes and which is now Nando's (see below). UCP was a chain that once sold that most Lancashire of dishes: tripe. It was once a most commonly eaten dish. Indeed it was a fast food that sold in bulk to men coming home from the pub. Its place in that respect would be overtaken by fish and chips.

I have it in mind to take photos from the same viewpoint as these old photographs as much as is possible. The centre of Blackpool changed hugely with the building of the Houndshill shopping mall. Streets disappeared. Others were blocked at one end. The properties along Victoria Street were demolished to make way for brand new shops on both sides of the street that narrowed the street considerably. It became a pedestrianised area.

Also in my scanning I have reached a point where I was heavily involved in the Blackpool & Fylde Photographic Society. I tend not to publish portrait photographs, many of which were taken during the second half of the 1980s. Not that they were all of beautiful girls...

There was murder and mayhem on the night that the local Vikings came to model!

Marching Bands from 1981

Ah, the sound of kazoos, drums and glockenspiels! For the past couple of nights I've been scanning these and other photos of a marching bands parade along Blackpool Promenade from 1981.

In fact I can be really precise. They were taken on the 26th of July 1981. Blackpool had two carnival processions a year in the 1980s and my problem is I can't remember which this is. Both the Lions and the Round Table charity groups organised parades.

One was a regular carnival-type procession of floats from local societies, businesses and groups, themed individually and the other was this one which was made up of marching bands from all over the country who would arrive in fleets of old buses and coaches, curtains twitching as youngsters got changed into uniforms to march up the Promenade and then compete in a competition.

Now how does that little lad with the maraccas see where he's going...?

Anyway, I'm looking to my knowledgeable readers now for help! Is this the Lions or the Round Table event? Does anyone know? Does anyone recognise themselves or have memories of marching in a band like this that they may care to share either in a comment or in a future entry? Does anyone have hip trouble because they were one of the retinue of young girls waving pom poms and slapping their thighs until they were red raw on cold and windy days in what we rashly call Britain's summer?

It's been a while since I've been able to feature a reader's memories on here - so the challenge is open! My email address can be found in the left hand column should you not want to leave memories as a comment.

After the parade had ended I turned the camera onto the Golden Mile. The photos are still waiting to go through the scanner so a joy to come...

All 23 of my photos of this parade can be seen in a set at my Flickr account.

Mahon, Menorca

Friday 29 August and we have arrived at Mahon on the island of Menorca where the ship has sailed right up the the streets of the town.

Mum made it up the four series of steps from the quayside with a stop to catch her breath every now and then and we found ourselves in the town of Mahon.

We had a short and gentle walk around the immediate area.

Brightly coloured streamers were flying, giving the place a carnival appearance. Put these up in a resort in England and I suspect they would be faded and dirty and giving anything but the right atmosphere before too long!

We wandered the streets and shops for a while and decided we didn't want to buy any souvenirs and that Mum had bought enough new clothes to last a lifetime...

We went back down the steps and along a row of cafes on the port road, but they all seemed to have square umbrellas that made an unbroken roof and were a bit smoky underneath from cigarettes! After they were banned from enclosed premises in the UK we've got used to clean air and notice cigarette smoke more.

We got back to the cafes at the foot of the set of steps that we had walked up into the town this morning. Just up a few steps overlooking the cafe tables was a market with perhaps half a dozen stalls.

Fran and Mum went off to a market whilst I drew a quick sketch of the steep hill seen earlier and then I caught up with them back at the cafe.

Fran had a slush drink - not sure what it was but it was based on some sort of red berry and it was delicious. I got one myself and we spent a pleasant half hour just talking and watching the comings and goings taking place around us.

Mum was happy with a new top that she had bought. Fran was less than happy at the fact that she had taken her eye off Mum for just a second or two only to find she had totally vanished from this very small market. She had gone behind a stall to try on the top without telling Fran where she was going. For a while Fran was on the point of going frantic. Mum remained unconcerned... "I knew where I was..." she said.

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