BLACKPOOL

frankjsmith · **Posted:** Sun Oct 25, 2009 11:19 pm

Some views of Blackpool from the air:-

wyrearchaeology · **Posted:** Mon Oct 26, 2009 4:48 pm

Frank,

'Come friendly bombs...etc.' Blackpool always looks better from the air. The shot of the Pleasure Beach I particularly like.

Just off the bottom of the third photograph down was where the Blackpool Roman coin hoard (along with two sunken walls of, presumably, an associated building) was discovered. I recommend anybody reading this who lives in the general area to take their mattocks to the roads and their pickaxes to each other's gardens.

chris2553 · **Posted:** Thu Oct 29, 2009 8:25 pm

Thanks Frank. The penultimate shot shows that Bloomfield Road is becoming a stadium fit to be the home of the Mighty Seasiders. Do you mind if I share the photo with a few fellow BFC supporters?

crown51 · **Posted:** Thu Oct 29, 2009 10:33 pm

hi all my grandad painted that , for nearly 30 years 2nd 3rd photo .(the tower) and im scared of heights !!!!!!!!! got a photo of him right at the top , one foot on one piece of metal the other on another piece of metal , just stood there about 10 foot under the crows nest with paint brush in hand !!! you can see the whole of blackpool and layton in the background ! he was what they now call a `stick man ` his mate fell off in the 50s landed in bank hey st . my nan run the boarding house on charles st whilst my grandad worked the tower during the day and worked the doors at the winter gardens, tower ballroom at night dont think they used to get on that well !!!!!!!!!! he went from working `down the pit` in nottinghamshire (hucknall) to working 519 ft up the tower in blackpool !! in between he worked in america down the pit in nebraska . sailed on the `olympic ` the titanics sister ship first sailing after world war 1 . it had been a troop ship all through the 14 -18 war , they re-fitted it and it sailed to america in 1920 1st sailing after the great war landed in america on the 20th august 1920 , he stayed in the states 5 years , then sailed back fron the states on the same ship , my nana waited for him for five years (cant see that happening these days !!!!!) and then they got married and moved from nottingham to blackpool , and thats that !! unless you want me to go into all the stories of beating the sh£t out of the teddy boys who were miss behaving in the tower and winter gardens throughout that time , the stories are endless !! regards andy

crown51 · **Posted:** Thu Oct 29, 2009 10:47 pm

sorry meant to say grandad was a season ticket holder at the `mighty seasiders ` for 30 years taking in all three cup finals 48 / 51 / 53 got the photo`s (somewhere) including stopping off at dixie deans pub on the way there (got the photo too complete with dixie with his international caps ) and also was up the tower during ww11 spotting the german planes , bombing liverpool flying down the coast and using `the tower` as a landmark ` to turn left and head home to germany . cheers all regards andy

crown51 · **Posted:** Thu Oct 29, 2009 11:04 pm

oops sorry meant to say turn right !!!!! not left towards germany otherwise they`d have ended up picking spuds in ireland !!!!and then drowned as they crossed the `pond` !!!!! regards andy

frankjsmith · **Posted:** Fri Oct 30, 2009 1:15 pm

Phil,
great stories, they don't know they're born thesedays, do they (we!). Those pesky germans let a couple go after turning left at the tower, and hit Kirkham gasworks and Wesham railway sidings.

Chris,
glad you like the new Bloomfield Road, (and I'm glad it's still Bloomfield Road and not the 'TK Max stadium' or some such, at Marton or somewhere else out of town). Any photos I post on the forum are in the public domain and can be used by anyone.

wyrearchaeology · **Posted:** Fri Oct 30, 2009 8:09 pm

Andy,

This isn't your granddad, is it?

crown51 · **Posted:** Fri Oct 30, 2009 8:35 pm

brian !! where the hell did you get that in colour ? yes thats me grandad it was in the gazzette in the 50s the headline was `skyman percy ball scorns even a hold ` im gobsmacked !!!!!!!! just wish my mum could have seen it .she would have been so proud !! thanks 4 that soooooo much appreciated . many thanks regards andy

wyrearchaeology · **Posted:** Fri Oct 30, 2009 8:59 pm

Andy,

To be honest I scanned in the photograph ages ago from an old copy of the Gazette that I had hanging around. And because I liked it so much I coloured it in on the computer using Adobe, little realising that I'd ever run across anybody descended from the chap who was the main subject matter. I suspect the colour scheme is way off, but if memory serves I went on to draw the picture up (because I didn't want to infringe anybody's copyright) and use it on the back cover of one of the Fylde and Wyre Antiquarian books.

It's a small world...at least it looks like it is from that height.

crown51 · **Posted:** Fri Oct 30, 2009 9:19 pm

brian im still gobsmacked !!!!!!! theres more than one tear in my eye as i write this !! thanks so much its so appreciated , not sure how you will go on with copyright etc its already appeared in several books , in fact i showed a mate 25/30 years ago on bury market where my family had a stall , and the mate phoned me ten years later from wh smiths in blackpool to say he`d been rooting through books in smiths and found the photo in the latest blackpool book . he`d met my grandad and seen the original photo on bury market years earlier . im still amazed regards andy

wyrearchaeology · **Posted:** Fri Oct 30, 2009 10:11 pm

Andy,

Here's my drawing of it -- well, a scan of the drawing anyhow. Not sure where the original is at the moment. I parcelled all my drawings up recently because I didn't want them getting in the way whilst I was decorating, so I've now got four drawers full of files. I'd scan it in again a bit larger for you, but it'd probably take several weeks to track it down, so this'll have to do for now:

frankjsmith · **Posted:** Tue Nov 03, 2009 8:49 pm

Here's a few more shots of Blackpool, framed by the wings of a 1940s De Haviland Dragon Rapide, which was at Squires Gate giving pleasure flights last Saturday, so I treated Sheryl and myself to a ride. A couple of Fleetwood aswell.

wyrearchaeology · **Posted:** Tue Nov 03, 2009 9:32 pm

Doesn't ASDA blend in well with the rest of Fleetwood?

The Fylde & Wyre Antiquarian

BLACKPOOL

Who is online