Blackpool and The Fylde College, 1987

The Nautical College at Fleetwood was experiencing some difficulties during 1986. Shipping companies were increasingly flagging their ships in countries other than Britain and student numbers from abroad, which had been large markets, were falling due to new nautical colleges opening in places like India.

There were stark choices. Closure was one, or a merger with another institution, or end up staying independent and falling into the red. In December 1986 the college was merged with Blackpool College to become the Fleetwood Nautical Campus of Blackpool and the Fylde College.

The Radar Station on Fleetwood Beach along with all other assets were transferred to the new merged college whose head would be Principal Michael McAllister. There were a few job losses, some voluntary and others less so. As a secondee - I had risen from Deputy Registrar to the position of Registrar after the former Registrar left to work at County Hall - I remained a secondee as at the time it was known that the chances of the college remaining independent were not viable. However within less than two months I found myself working at Blackpool as a co-ordinator of a small team working on an in-house developed computerised Management Information System.

It was based on a Prime mini computer using Prime's own database software which was my first introduction to SQL or Structured Query Language. It did, however, take ages to run some large queries and each query running slowed the machine down for all other users.

For a while I found myself back at Fleetwood as the list of students against courses there had been left with no one really knowing how to keep it up to date. With so many short courses on the Offshore side and other non-vocational courses it took me a couple of stressful weeks sorting it all out.

Having been the nominal Head of Administration at the Nautical College I had attended the monthly meetings of Heads of Admin from all the ten colleges within Lancashire Education Authority and towards the end of 1987 it came to my attention that a post of deputy of that post had been advertised by W.R. Tuson College (later to become Preston College). I applied, as my salary grade from Fleetwood to Blackpool had inevitably dropped from the seconded position and I must admit there were a few mutterings from some in the General Office that I caught along the lines of "a jump of that many grades - who does he think he is? He'll never get it..."

Well, yes he did and so he put in his notice to leave. Something unheard of happened. At least I was told it had never happened before... The Principal himself appeared in the General Office and came to speak to me. The entire room went into shocked silence. Later I was to work on a project regarding a support organisation initially for Lancashire's MIS people with Michael McAllister and as far as I'm concerned we respected each other and I enjoyed working with him. On this occasion he asked if I was leaving due to any upset - which I wasn't - and I replied that I was leaving for a much better paid job and that I wouldn't rule out returning at some point in the future. He was satisfied with that but after he had gone there was a sudden crowd around my desk.

"Are you in trouble?" asked the person behind the "who does he think he is" mutterings. I burst out laughing. "I've resigned - how could I possibly be in trouble?"

Strangely I have no photographs at all of Blackpool College, don't ask me why. Photos of staff and weddings I have and some cherished friendships that have lasted 40 years and some that fell along the wayside as so many do. One thing that I always remember is that to one side of the building was an enclosed space with a tree and garden and at dusk, literally hundreds of starlings would descend into this tiny courtyard to roost in the tree with a great clamour. It was magical almost. Another thing I remember with a warm glow is my immediate boss, Brian Wilkinson, who enthusiastically supported me and introduced me to my very first PC - an Amstrad 1512 with no hard drive but with two slots for 5.25 inch floppy disks! Next stop: Preston College.

Work Index

Working at The Nautical College Fleetwood

Having already written a whole string of articles on my final job before retiring, I should go back, if not to the very beginning, then to the start of my time in the Post-16 Education Sector. I had already spent a year and a half working in the District Education Offices in Blackpool when I was seconded to the Nautical College at Fleetwood to act as Deputy Registrar and Finance Officer. This was in September 1985.

Not that the work entailed a lot of this, but it's a bit more interesting than photos of an office... The college was fairly small as Further Education colleges go. There were just two academic departments: Maritime Studies and Marine Electronics. One dealt with basic seaman skills all the way up to a Masters certificate - i.e. becoming qualified as a Captain. It included navigation, ropework, sailing and all the other skills necessary to keep a ship safe at sea or on any body of water including rivers and canals. Marine Electronics dealt with radio procedure and maintenance, radar and probably lots of other stuff I didn't get to know about.

There was a huge simulator of a ship's bridge where students had to navigate into and out of harbours, with or without visuals on screens before them. Without screens simulated sailing in fog... Down on Fleetwood Beach was a weird little building - currently at time of writing up for sale I gather - raised on stilts and full of working radar monitors. (I'm not at all sure they are still inside!)

In addition, at the mouth of the River Wyre was this small platform where students either already or wishing to work in the Offshore platform industry could undergo training on safety procedures, a certificate on which was a requirement to work on oil and gas rigs. New workers took a 5-day course which included a day's fire-fighting training with Lancashire Fire Brigade and existing workers had to renew their certificate periodically by taking a shorter 3-day course. The courses also included a simulation where a mock helicopter fuselage was plunged underwater, rolled over and then they had to escape - literally.

There were a number of different lifeboats and fast rescue craft. FOSC-5 (the fifth boat on the platform run by the Fleetwood Offshore Survival Centre) was a jet-engined rigid hull with a rather satisfying roar and a certain amount of WHUMFF once in the water!

It cut a dash and when on manouvres particularly during the summer holiday season it invariably drew a crowd of onlookers.

There were also some rather more basic craft. Here a fully enclosed lifeboat (you don't want to be in an open one if a rig is on fire...) is the subject of an exercise with FOSC-5 standing by in case it is needed.

The college also had this small ship. The Lancastrian was built originally as a yacht for a millionaire. It turned out to be a bit top heavy for him and rolled about quite a bit much to the discomfort of students and any visiting dignitaries who might be given a "treat" ride on her. She is shown out of the water having had stabilisers fitted. Made no difference really...

This is what the other 99.99% of my job entailed. However I did find a room full of unused Commodore Pet computers each with a fabulously luxurious 32K - yes K not MB, not GB - of memory and I wrote a piece of financial software on one which saved the data onto cassette tape and which led to the college buying a larger machine (125K whoopee!) and my career in computerised Management Information Systems got started.

Work Index

Fleetwood Tram Sunday 1988

It's another July, this time the year is 1989 and we are once more in Fleetwood for the annual Tram Sunday Festival of Transport.

This is an Austin-Healey 3000. They were built from 1959 to 1967 and had a 3 litre engine that the company claimed could do 0-100 miles per hour in 31 seconds. This was long before the days of a 70mph top limit on all roads in the UK. The white disc roadsign with a black diagonal flash really meant delimited in those days. Production ceased with the Mk.III in 1967 although three proposed Mk.IV cars were built with a 3.9 litre Rolls Royce engine. This car never made it into production however. And after all that excitement it seems that people are more interested in the contents of the butcher's shop window...

An Austin A40 Somerset. It replaced the somewhat chunky Austin Devon in 1952 and enjoyed a production run of a mere two years before it was in turn replaced by the Austin Cambridge in 1954. During that time over 173,000 were produced. This number includes sales of a convertible variant.

A Ford Prefect 100E. The four doors give it away. The Anglia only had two and the slightly later Popular had a different grill. In fact the Popular was just the Anglia refusing to stop being made when a new body shape was given the Anglia name...

In fact the very same thing had happened when the old-sit-up-and-beg Anglia changed to the shape shown previously. Production carried on as though nothing had happened and the new cars with the old shape were called the Ford Popular. Such a one was my Dad's first car.

A Vauxhall Wyvern EIX. ("EIX" - how did they pronounce that I wonder?) Produced from 1951 to 1957, they originally had huge lumps of chromed metal bar around and across the front grill like a grill with lips and an extra bumper across it that with a vertical bar made a cross over the grill opening. That dates this example here no earlier than 1955. The name Wyvern was to die out and the Victor, Velox and Cresta became Vauxhall's major models.

The impressive-looking Jaguar SS Mk.IV. The SS part of the name was dropped in 1948, not long after World War II, because of its unforgetable association with the Nazi SS. It had stood for Sports Saloon although it could also have been a reminder of Jaguar's origins as a small Blackpool-based company called Swallow Sidecars. It's successor became simply known as the Jaguar Mk.V.

The Hillman Minx. This Audax design was built from 1956 to 1967 and this is a later model as evidenced by the lack of splayed out rear fins. I had one as my first 4-wheel car and it was lovely to drive, but less so to stop...

Mystery time and a chance for readers to show off knowledge. This is a 1963 Austin Cambridge which is impossible because production of this body shape finished in 1957 or 1958 depending on whether it is an A40, A50, or A55. The A55 had a longer boot than the A40 and A50 which were identical, but the angle of the photo leaves me unable to guess. From the registration plate it must have been re-registered at some point in time. Over to you: leave a comment if you know.

Fleetwood Tram Sundays Index

Fleetwood Tram Sunday 1995

It's July 1995 and once again the weather is kind enough for us to venture down the road to Fleetwood to have a look at the vehicles at the annual Tram Sunday vehicles festival.

This is a reminder of my own first 4-wheeled car. A 1961 Hillman Minx. Mine had the registration 385 TD. I bought it in 1971 at the the age of 17 after a year of embarrassing myself driving old Reliant three-wheelers about. In comparison this was a tank. The Hillman Minx was a tremendously popular car. Built from 1931 it went though a pre-war (WW2) version, a wartime version then a postwar Mk.1 to Mk.VIII before this version designed by Rootes and labelled the Audax design was released in 1956 going through Series.1 to Series.VI before a totally new body design came out in 1967, known as the New Minx - a basic version of the Hillman Hunter.

This is identical to my car, though later series lost the rear fins, to the detriment of the overall look of the car. Series IV never existed but to make up for it Series.III had Series.IIIa - to Series.IIIc. Confusing isn't it...? Anyway, mine had not so much a bench seat, but two large seats that touched together so the handrake came out from under the dash and the gear lever was... no... not on the steering column but it was a bent affair from far forward on the floor which then bent over the front middle seat. Potentially embarrassing if you had two other passengers on the front seat in those days of mini skirts, but then again I never was one for being easily embarrassed! Braking hard was something of a fear-inducing exercise of holding the steering wheel hard enough and stepping on the brake pedal hard enough that you were in a standing position before the car deigned to slow down...

A 1965 Ford Anglia Super 123E as identified by the two-tone paint jobby with surrounding chrome strips on the side flash. This was the top of the range model effectively replacing for good the Ford Prefect.

Like buses - you don't see one for ages and then two turn up together...

The van-bodied version of the earlier Ford Anglia was known as the Ford Thames van. Note the semaphore trafficators behind the driver's side window.

A Morris Commercial J-Type van. Made from 1949 to 1961, this van could carry ten hundredweight (10 cwt) or half a ton. It was one of the first vans to have the cab right at the front of the vehicle with hardly any protruding bonnet. Over 48,000 were made with the Post Office using them extensively. Their vehicles differed slightly from the standard J-Type in that their front and rear wings were made of rubber.

A 1964 Triumph Herald 12/50 convertible. An deluxe version of the Herald 1200. By the time this car came out the Standard-Triumph company had been bought out by Leyland Motors. They gave the 1200 model a cash injection and came up with improved seating, a rubber-covered bumper (I bet you're all going "Wow!" just at that aren't you?) and wooden trim dashboard. Disc brakes were fitted from 1962 as an option. The following year this 12/50 version came out and front disc brakes were fitted as standard. The Herald had a strange engine covering - instead of an opening bonnet, the entire front of the car including wings and headlights etc. lifted from the rear to stand vertically in front of the car. This meant access was only possible from either side of the engine. They were very popular and photos of Heralds even now draw exclaimations of devotion on online websites and pages where they are affectionately known as "Harolds".

A 1935 single-deck half-cab bus owned by the Ribble Vehicle Preservation Trust. Based on a Leyland Tiger chassis, this bus originally had an English Electric 31-seater bus body but after World War II was fitted with a larger engine and a new Burlingham body. It remained in service until 1960 then ownership passed through a few private owners before it was spotted in 1972 masquerading as a garden shed in Fleetwood. It was restored in due course and donated to the Ribble Vehicle Preservation Trust.

BMW Isetta bubble car. These were originally made by an Italian firm Iso - "Isetta" being a derived name from the Italian for "Little Iso". Both 4-wheel and 3-wheel versions were produced but in the UK the 3-wheeled version was more popular because they were classed as a motorbike and could be driven on a motorbike licence and also cost less in road tax. They were made here in a right-hand drive version which caused a small problem in that the engine was also mounted towards the right so counterweights had to be added on the left to cure the tendency to lean or roll over. They were produced from 1957-1962 in the UK, though production in Italy started in 1952.

A loud rumbling noise mingled with the hiss of steam heralds an Aveling & Porter steam roller, from 1912. Named "Betsy" and given the production number: 7632, such vehicles, a regular sight during my early childhood in the 1950s are now only rarely seen on public roads.

There was something familiar about the chap with glasses - it was steeplejack and demolition expert, Fred Dibnah!

Oh, go on... It's Tram Sunday so let's have a look at a tram. Balloon tram 716 on Lord Street. It was sporting a pantograph, rather than long trailing pole to pick up electricity from the overhead wire. These trams were the mainstay of Blackpool's trams, moving people by the hundred from Starr Gate in the south to the Tower, North Pier, Bispham and beyond to Fleetwood Ferry. This type of tram was first delivered to Blackpool in 1934 and were used on regular service until the new light rail tramway system started in 2012. They can still be seen on service as part of the Heritage Fleet. This particular tram though was sold and used as an office and current whereabouts are unknown, presumed scrapped.

1954 Southern National Bristol LS6G coach with bodywork by Eastern Coach Works.

Fleetwood Tram Sundays Index

Fleetwood Tram Sunday 1992

It's July 1992, it's a Sunday and it's another glorious day for the annual Fleetwood Tram Sunday transport fun-fest.

With such a sunny day I loaded the camera with colour film, not something people would normally have to think about choosing these days I suppose, but... This is a mid to late 1950s Wolseley 15/50 with a contemporary touring caravan. The 15/50 was built from 1956 to 1958 and looked somewhat like the MG Magnette, though the rear panels and boot were different. A heater came as standard fitting - usually an option in cars of this date.

There were other things to look at and listen to than just transport. And before you email me with complaints, this is a Dutch organ so the word carousel is spelt in Dutch and is therefore spelt correctly! Hooghuy is the name of the famous family of organ builders in the Netherlands that go back at least as far as 1754 when Gerrit or Gerardus Hooghuy was born. He moved to Bruges in Belgium in 1806 and advertised his services as an organ builder and repairer.

The Mark-I Ford Cortina was introduced in 1962 as a replacement for the Ford Consul. Indeed, the first models (Mark-1a) were badged as a Consul on the front of the bonnet, then a few tweaks were made and the Mark-1b dropped the Consul name which would only be revived years later for a very limited time as the cheaper version of the first Granada.

An Aveling and Porter traction engine named Patience. It was Thomas Aveling who invented the traction engine in 1859 (and steam rollers in 1867). Following his success he became mayor of Rochester in Kent. Patience was manufactured in 1903 and given the factory number 5293. Her vehicle registration number is MN 9033.

The horse-drawn fire engine of Fulwood, a district of Preston, situated to Preston's north between the town centre and just south of where the M6/M55/A6 junction is currently situated. Water pressure was provided by a steam boiler.

Humber Hawk estate. Humber were a member of the Rootes family of car manufacturers and the first Humber Hawk was launched in 1945 after the end of World War II. Designed in 1938 (pretty much a Hillman 14 with a longer boot and without running boards) the Series 1 Hawk went from Mark-1 to Mark-6. The Mark-6 for the first time included an estate car version. and then in 1960 a new body shape came out as the Series II. There would be a series III, series IV and and IVA before production of the Humber Hawk ceased in 1967. This car was not displaying any information and neither does Google so I presume it is off the road and possibly scrapped. It has not been taxed since 2002.

A Mark-2 Ford Zodiac. Three cars had the body shape from basic model (Ford Consul) through the mid-range Zephyr with the Zodiac being the luxury model. Together they earned the nickname The Three Graces and were the dream car of many a young lad and indeed their fathers! They were built from 1956 to 1962.

Staying with the Fords, here's a Ford Popular 100E. For some reason when the Ford Anglia was upgraded to a new body shape, the old style remained in production but renamed as the Ford Popular. This was the second such model to be continued under the Popular name. As weird as this concept might sound, my Dad bought a brand new one... The Ford Anglia 100E was produced from 1953-1959 and the Ford Popular 100E from 1959-1962. Ironically its replacement was the new 1962 upgrade to the Ford Anglia 105E.

A Reliant Scimitar GTE SE5 from 1968. That a company known for its cheap and sometimes even stretching towards cheerful 3-wheeled cars, the Scimitar was something of an anomaly. They were made with a fibreglass body (as were the 3-wheelers) on a steel box chassis and were ftted with Ford engines from the Zephyr and Zodiac models. This gave them quite a bit of Oomph when the accelerator pedal was pressed and this could top 120 miles per hour.

Other components of the car came from various competitors' models too - a touch of the collect ten different cars and use the bits to make a new one... One model apparently knocked the rear view mirror out of alignment when the sun visor was folded down. But hey - they didn't rust! And they were fairly popular. Princess Anne was given one as a 20th Birthday/Christmas present and liked it enough to own several more. Production ceased in 1986.

The beautiful Vauxhall Cresta PA. Built from 1957 to 1962 this is the second model of the Cresta, which was the luxury version of Vauxhall's series of cars with the basic Wyvern and mid-range Velox models. It was heavily influenced by American cars of the 1950s with it's rear fins, moulded front and rear screen windows and sleek styling, undoubtedly making it one of the better looking cars on British roads at the time. It had a front bench seat and the handbrake was pulled from under the dashboard with a column gear change under the steering wheel to allow three people to ride on the front seat. It had only three forward gears, though an overdrive was optional.

Fleetwood Tram Sundays Index

Fleetwood Tram Sunday 1985

1985 was the centenary of the Blackpool Tramway. It was the first tramways system operating along public roadways in mainland UK and is unique in having operated trams throughout its history through to the present day, broken only by periods of maintenance on the permanent trackway.

Needless to say, that Blackpool celebrated the tramway centenary in a big way that year with many restored and preserved trams from elsewhere coming to run along the eleven and a half miles from Starr Gate at the southern end of Blackpool to Fleetwood Ferry, the terminus on the end of the Fleetwood peninsula and opposite the entrance to the ferry across the River Wyre to Knott End.

Fleetwood too, despite the fact that trams didn't reach there until 1898 from Blackpool - and even then being operated by a rival company to the Blackpool Corporation Trams, decided to join in the celebrations with a tram and transport festival that became known as Tram Sunday This would feature the preserved and restored trams running up and down the length of Lord Street (Fleetwood's main shopping thoroughfare) whilst more traditional forms of vintage and classic road transport in the form of cars, buses and lorries would form a static display along the sides of the road.

It was a huge success, helped by glorious weather, and it was soon decided that this would become an annual event. Here a restored Glasgow tram is seen, loaded to capacity with excited tourists, returning to the top of Lord Street where it will cross to the north-heading track to repeat the trip with a fresh but equally eager set of passengers.

Even with several trams running such a short distance, they had no problems at all with finding enough people willing to queue for a ride. This tram is from Bolton in Lancashire and had been in Blackpool for a few years already and at time of writing in 2023 it still is, on permanent loan, now forming part of the Heritage fleet of trams.

A 1942 Morris 8 Series Z van. This vehicle was owned by the Commercial Vehicles Museum at nearby Leyland. The type was launched in 1940 and in production until 1953.

A Scammell Scarab three-wheel tractor with flatback trailer. I used to see several of these outside Rochdale and Manchester railway stations, pulling flat trailers, loaded with goods that had been transported by rail. They were built from 1948 all the way through to 1967 and whilst they were used predominantly by railway companies, they also were popular with the military and for deliveries in tight city streets as their use of articulated attachment to trailers made them more manouverable than a standard flatback lorry.

A Jaguar XK120 fixed head coupe, originally sold in 1953 by Henlys in London. These were very high performance cars. Just over 12,000 were made between 1948 to 1954 and in 1949 the second such car to be built was measured through the standing mile on a closed road in Belgium at 132.596 miles per hour. In 1953 a modified open-top version with aerodynamic bubble covering the cockpit (actually from a glider!) clocked over 172 miles per hour along the same standing mile in Belgium. There was no chance of attempting this speed in Fleetwood...

A few people attended in fancy dress, adding to the fun and atmosphere of the day.

Fleetwood tram 167. Built in 1928 it remained in service until 1953 from when it was used as an engineering car until 1962 when it was sold to the National Tramway Museum at Crich, being the first tram to use a motorway (the M62) during its journey to Crich.

Manchester tram 765 of 1914 vintage. The only surving example of over 60 trams of the type, it was retired from Manchester in 1930 when the route transferred to bus operations and it ended up stored on a farm for a while prior to restoration. It currently runs on the Heaton Park Tramway in Manchester.

Fleetwood Tram Sundays Index

Random Ship Spotting - Part 3

The third in a series of articles looking at ships we have seen either at home or whilst on holiday.

The Shamrock Enterprise was photographed in Glasson Dock, near Lancaster in the UK in May 1985. She was a general cargo ship, built in 1982 and launched on the 13th March of that year in the Netherlands. In 1985 she was sold to Lazard Leasing Service Ltd. and leased to Shamrock Shipping Company. She was to sail subsequently under the names Silverthorn in 1990, Fir in 2002 and finally Temptation upon being sold to a Colombian company. Whilst carrying over 1400 tons of cargo in heavy seas in the Caribbean, she sank on 20 December 2015, eighty miles from San Andres Island. Her crew were rescued.

The TSS (Turbine Steam Ship) Manxman, photographed in Preston Docks in 1986 acting as a floating nightclub after a career of almost 30 years with the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company. Built at the Cammell Laird shipyard in Birkenhead in 1955, she was the final of six sister ships built for the company. Her last sailing between the Isle of Man and Birkenhead was in September 1982. She appeared as a location in the Barbra Streisand film Yentl during this period. She was sold as a planned centrepiece for a new leisure complex at Preston Dock, sailing there under her own steam on 3 October with passengers paying 1955 prices for beer at 10 pence per pint.

When the Preston Docks area was redeveloped in 1991 she was towed back to Liverpool where she spent another period as floating nightclub. In 1993 she moved to Hull where she remained whilst a company was formed with the intention of preserving her. Unfortunately a fire destroyed much of her internal woodwork and the preservation campaign fell through. She was moved to Sunderland to be dismantled and was scrapped in 2012.

Buffalo was one of three ships based on the same design, the others being Bison (see below) and Puma. She was built in Hamburg in 1975 for Pandoro Ltd. She was a Roll On-Roll Off ferry and a regular visitor to Fleetwood, seen here in 1986. In 1998 she became the European Leader, as Pandoro was rebranded as P&O Irish Sea. In 2004 Stena Line bought the Irish Sea route and she was renamed again as Stena Leader. Stena closed the route from Fleetwood in 2010 and the ferry was sold to Anrustrans being renamed as Anna Marine. She was scrapped in Turkey in 2014.

Bison seen at Fleetwood a little later, in May 1987. She was also built in Hamburg in 1975 but in order to cope with an increase in traffic between Fleetwood and Larne she was lengthened in 1980 in Tyneside where she was cut in two and an extra 15-metre length added. In 1989 she was chartered to B&I and returned in 1993 whereon she had to have extensions added to her side to comply with Safety Of Life At Sea (SOLAS) regulations. This made her less seaworthy and to compensate she had an extra vehicle deck added to the stern to add weight. In 1998 with the rebranding of Pandoro she became the European Pioneer and with her transfer to Stena she became Stena Pioneer. Sold to a Russian company in 2011 and renamed ANT 1. She was scrapped alongside her two sister ships in Turkey in 2014.

Motor Trawler Resolute sailing into Fleetwood, decorated as part of Fleetwood Lifeboat Day celebrations in June 1988. Built in 1970 in Aberdeen, she was renamed Boy Anthony III in 1979 and sold to a new owner in Maryport the following year. In 1985 she returned to Fleetwood as the Janmar under new ownership again and once more became the Resolute in 1987. In 2006, whilst docked in North Shields, she suffered serious fire damage to her crew accomodation and was scrapped two years later.

Ships and Boats Index