Hi Bob and everybody I guess everyone knows now that there are no animals in the circus now. We had a Hotel and a friend from South Shore used to come by bus and then by tram to where we lived at Bispham. Most mornings she would see the elephants being taken for a walk and a paddle on the beach and then they just went back into their quarters. Many years later we had a bakery and delivered cakes etc. to the Blackpool Zoo Cafe, the Zoo is opposite Stanley Park. In the compound not far from the Cafe were the elephants when they were taken out for exercise in the grass. So although they did live in the basement, they were not there confined all the time. You used to be able to go down and see the animals, after the circus show, but this was stopped. Usual Health and Safety rules I guess. I don`t know what is down there now. Cannot see there being a lot left undamaged in the wheel! What a nice little story. Olive

Many thanks! The fire my father was involved in was the one that destroyed the Ballroom, at the base of the Tower. I was quite young at the time, but clearly remember seeing it before and immediately after the fire, and being quite upset that such a beautiful place had been destroyed. I subsequently worked there, and in the roof gardens, as a general helper and icecream seller! I had to park my bike in the basement, where the circus animals were caged. The insurance company could hardly believe my claim for a new back wheel - "an elephant stood on it"....honest. Cheers Bob

Bob, that was some fire. The worst thing I remember was about trying to get the animals out of the Zoo. Not sure, but I think they were all saved. I have often wondered who left the cigarette end, someone must remember sitting in that chair. It was quite amazing how they restored everything to almost what it was before. Olive

Jacquie and all If anyone has missed any of the above I have pasted them all into one word document, so at the end I can send anyone a copy of this if they wish. I find it fascinating to see things being opened with such a big show, now they are closed down or demolished. There was a good article last night in the Gazette, will type this out and send later. Olive

> 1956 > > Gifts Fair held for the first time in Blackpool. > > Disastrous fire (13/14th December) caused by a > cigarette end left in a chair > results in £500.000's worth of damage to the Tower > Ballroom. Blaze > described as "a scene out of hell" fought by 50 > firemen and 100 Tower company staff, > brought under control in 6 hours. > Memories! - My father was the fire/security officer on duty at the Tower that night.....

In a message dated 04/06/2006 11:45:19 GMT Daylight Time, bob.jenkins@btinternet.com writes: Memories! - My father was the fire/security officer on duty at the Tower that night..... Hi Bob I have a photo of Blackpool Tower on fire. Dont know if it is the same fire as there is no date on it. Will send it offline. Jacqui

Hi everybody I will try to put a bit more on each list as I have just realised how much paper it is taking if anyone is printing these out. 1954 H.R.H. Princess Margaret visits Hawker Aircraft Factory. Arnold Girls School opened by H.R.H. The Princess Royal. High tides create a full scale emergency at Rossall. Sea wall damaged. 1955 A year dominated by the Royal Variety Show attended by H.M. Queen Elizabeth 11 and H.R.H. Prince Philip, Duke of Endinburgh. Royal box specially built at the Opera House for the glittering occasion. Glamorous veteran film star Marlene Dietrich appears at the Opera House. Illuminations switchen on by Jacob Malik, Russian Ambassador. 1956 Gifts Fair held for the first time in Blackpool. Disastrous fire (13/14th December) caused by a cigarette end left in a chair results in £500.000's worth of damage to the Tower Ballroom. Blaze described as "a scene out of hell" fought by 50 firemen and 100 Tower company staff, brought under control in 6 hours. 1957 British Home Stores building completed and opened. Plans for a £7m, redevelopment scheme for Central Station and Golden Mile area. Squires Gate factory closed. 1958 Trailer-trams introduced (9th April) First double deck trams run to Fleetwood (Easter) Gala opening (23rd May) of restored Tower Ballroom, Lounge and Bars. 18 months after the fire. Chapel Street subway opened. 1959 County and Lane End Hotel (requisitioned for war-time Civil Service offices) purchased by Tower Company for £178.000. Illuminations switched on by Jayne Mansfield, American film star and sex symbol. Bye for now, more tomorrow. I have found some info up to about 1975. Jacqui

KILCOYELS@aol.com wrote: >Hello again, here are the notable events for 1948 and 1949:- > > >1948 > >Freedom of Blackpool conferred on Field Marshall Viscount Montgomery of >Alamein. > >Closure of Squires Gate Factory renders thousands jobless. > >House waiting list swells to 8,770. > >Blackpool beaten 4-2 by Manchester united in Cup Final. > > >1949 > >THE LIGHTS GO ON AGAIN. Blackpools famous Autumn illuminations are resumed >on a larger scale than ever before. Millions come by road and rail for this >great post-war spectacle. > >Pleasure Beach and Ice Drome extensively damaged by fire. (13th July) > >Mereside Estate, first houses occupied. > > > > <snip> Jacqui You forgot to mention the most notable event in Blackpool in 1949! I was born , and a year later we moved to the Mereside estate (Cartmell Road) <VBG> Regards Phil

The 1952 and 1953 Notable events. 1952 Squires Gate jets necessitate an extension of the runway. Plans for a ring road (Queensway) approved. Delivery of the first "Coronation" trams. Feldmans Theatre sold. (renamed Queen's) 1953 Sound barrier broken off the coast by Neville Duke flying a Hawker Hunter jet. Royal Agricultural Show at Blackpool. Blackpool murder case. Killing by rat poison. Mrs Louisa Merrifield executed. Back later with 1944 and 1945 Jacqui

Hi Here are the Notable events for 1950 and 1951. 1950 "The Blackpool Rock racket" - Spivs caught selling rock without sweet coupons. Severe gales damage second post-war lights. 1951 Empty Squires Gate Factory taken by Hawker Aircraft for the building of Hunter Jets. King George V1 and Queen Elizabeth tour the Fylde. Committee appointed to vet "dirty" postcards flooding the stalls. Grange Park extension - 100 acres of Poulton land earmarked for Corporation Housing. Blackpool F.C. in the Cup Final. Beaten 2-0 by Newcastle. Thats all for now. 1952 and 53 next. Jacqui

Think they realised they were erecting fencing in the wrong Street. Colleen NSW Keep the events coming. ----- Original Message ----- From: <KILCOYELS@aol.com> To: <ENG-LAN-FYLDE-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, June 03, 2006 7:40 PM Subject: [FYLDE] COUNCIL WORKERS > Hi Everybody > > I know I am going off-topic but while I have been sat by my window > writing > the Notable events, I have been observing the typical british council > worker > of today. > > On Wednesday 10 workmen turned up and dug holes at the bottom of the > lawns > in front of our Flats. It took them about 2 hours, after which they had a > 2 > hour break. Then they put some tall fence posts in the holes. 2 hours > later > they came and took the tall fence posts out. Then they went home. > > On Thursday they turned up at 11am and put some shorter fence posts in > and > then went off fo lunch. Later they returned and put 3 sections of fence > up. > Then they went home. > > On Friday they managed to put the rest of the fencing up. > > It is Saturday and while I am sat here writing this they have just come > and > taken all the fencing down and B............ed off. > > Cant wait till Monday to see what happens. > > Regards > > Jacqui > > > > > ==== ENG-LAN-FYLDE Mailing List ==== > No off-list lookup requests, please! They defeat the entire purpose of > the list and put undue pressure on the recipient. Please SHARE by > posting to the list! > > ============================== > Search Family and Local Histories for stories about your family and the > areas they lived. Over 85 million names added in the last 12 months. > Learn more: http://www.ancestry.com/s13966/rd.ashx >

We shouldn`t continue this, but the best one I saw was a picture in the paper of what should have been a painted STOP on the road. Spelled as SPOT. Word blindness or what? Olive

Jacqui I cannot wait, either! Putting the fence up and then taking it down, well, this is the best one I have ever heard. Pity you did not have photographs of it all. Olive

Hi Olive You wrote: > Aileen did all these lists of visitors to Blackpool. I saved them > all, but they are all separate files and kind of impossible for me to > search for names. > > The dates for them are 2003 > > May 24th and 25th > Then June nearly every day > July every day > August nearly every day > September nearly every day > October nearly all first half of the month > > Maybe you can help people to find them in the archives, if there is an > easy way to do this please? Easy peasy. :-) Go to the searcheable LancsGen archives at <http://listsearches.rootsweb.com/?list=LANCSGEN> In the Query field type (or copy and paste) "visitors and blackpool" (without inverted commas) Click on Search. Result! Best wishes, Lynne

I think you'll find that the guy that dug the original holes for the fence post wasn't union! My bet is, they also filled the holes in and come Monday they'll bring a union guy in to re-dig the holes. The fence should be reinstalled by Friday, unless of course, they go on "work to rule." Seems perfected logical to me <eyeroll> John In a message dated 6/3/2006 5:40:53 AM Eastern Standard Time, KILCOYELS@aol.com writes: Hi Everybody I know I am going off-topic but while I have been sat by my window writing the Notable events, I have been observing the typical british council worker of today. On Wednesday 10 workmen turned up and dug holes at the bottom of the lawns in front of our Flats. It took them about 2 hours, after which they had a 2 hour break. Then they put some tall fence posts in the holes. 2 hours later they came and took the tall fence posts out. Then they went home. On Thursday they turned up at 11am and put some shorter fence posts in and then went off fo lunch. Later they returned and put 3 sections of fence up. Then they went home. On Friday they managed to put the rest of the fencing up. It is Saturday and while I am sat here writing this they have just come and taken all the fencing down and B............ed off. Cant wait till Monday to see what happens. Regards Jacqui

Hi Everybody I know I am going off-topic but while I have been sat by my window writing the Notable events, I have been observing the typical british council worker of today. On Wednesday 10 workmen turned up and dug holes at the bottom of the lawns in front of our Flats. It took them about 2 hours, after which they had a 2 hour break. Then they put some tall fence posts in the holes. 2 hours later they came and took the tall fence posts out. Then they went home. On Thursday they turned up at 11am and put some shorter fence posts in and then went off fo lunch. Later they returned and put 3 sections of fence up. Then they went home. On Friday they managed to put the rest of the fencing up. It is Saturday and while I am sat here writing this they have just come and taken all the fencing down and B............ed off. Cant wait till Monday to see what happens. Regards Jacqui

Hello again, here are the notable events for 1948 and 1949:- 1948 Freedom of Blackpool conferred on Field Marshall Viscount Montgomery of Alamein. Closure of Squires Gate Factory renders thousands jobless. House waiting list swells to 8,770. Blackpool beaten 4-2 by Manchester united in Cup Final. 1949 THE LIGHTS GO ON AGAIN. Blackpools famous Autumn illuminations are resumed on a larger scale than ever before. Millions come by road and rail for this great post-war spectacle. Pleasure Beach and Ice Drome extensively damaged by fire. (13th July) Mereside Estate, first houses occupied. 1950 & 1951 to follow (I remember watching the illuminations being switched back on in 1949. I was a 9 year old then and it was truly magical). Jacqui

Hi Everybody Here are the notable events for 1946 and 1947:- 1946 Victory in the Far East. (Sir) Winston Churchill becomes the 21st Freeman of the Borough of Blackpool and recieves a tumultuous welcome. First nylon stockings appear in local shops. 1947 Another great Freeze-up. Coldest winter for years. Coal shortages, electricity turned off for 5 hours per day to save fuel. 3.000 Squire's Gate factory workers given notice. Industry rumbles to a halt in North West. !948 and 1949 to follow. Jacqui

Lynne Aileen did all these lists of visitors to Blackpool. I saved them all, but they are all separate files and kind of impossible for me to search for names. The dates for them are 2003 May 24th and 25th Then June nearly every day July every day August nearly every day September nearly every day October nearly all first half of the month Maybe you can help people to find them in the archives, if there is an easy way to do this please? Olive

Found while searching LancsGen's archives for something else: "Visitors to Blackpool." Many names mentioned. See <http://listsearches.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/ifetch2?/u1/textindices/L/LANCSGEN+2003+1386219998403+F> Lynne