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On Saturday my man and I continued our Fylde coast adventure for my birthday weekend treat.

After our tasty lunch in Neal’s bakery in Cleveleys we had a wander around the shops. They were busy and yet I noticed again the loss of small businesses in favour of chain stores and charity shops. We were both amazed at the selection of goods in Oxfam. There was a rail of fancy dress items; some stunning saris and even graduation gowns! It was very interesting. I often think of a lady who spoke at a Samaritans conference and told us some tales of working in one of their shops. A common question by customers is ‘do you have these in size 5’ or ‘ do you have this in blue?’ Some customers just don’t get the idea!

I did get my first present from the remaining independent shoe shop –  a pair of sandals – we are going to the Caribbean next month!  The weather then deteriorated into strong winds and rain. Best option was to get back in the car. We drove along Cleveleys prom and up to where cars park facing the beach.  I could almost see my family paddling in the water decades earlier – not on a day like today!  I remember my brother and I burying my Mum’s sandals one day as a joke. We were in big trouble though because we only ever found one of them! This is one of my earliest beach days.

I was impressed to see a new ice rink in Cleveleys. One of the stars Dan Whiston from Dancing on Ice lives in Poulton and he does sessions here.

I asked my partner to drive passed a house where I spent many hours that was to become significant in my adult years. As a small child I was very shy and had little confidence to speak to strangers. A classic child who would hide behind my Mum’s legs. My parents decided that it might be a good idea for my brother and I to go to elocution lessons. The next door neighbour had a little boy who had a stammer and he went to Peggie Ward’s school of speech and drama in Nutter Road. No comment about the name please! Once a week for an hour I would be in Peggie’s front room where she would sit in the corner surrounded by her beloved poetry books and each week she would give me a poem to learn and recite.  It was usually on a Wednesday so that my Grandpa could take me in the car on his afternoon off. I loved my time there and I loved her. She taught me the joy of words and gave me the confidence to stand up and speak. I know that she is long gone now yet I fully acknowledge the gift she nurtured in me. I appreciate the cost that my parents put into this when money was far from easy to come by. 

Twice a year we had exams where an external examiner came to hear us speak. They were held in the big church hall around the corner. I shall always remember one exam when I entered the back of the dark, long hall and could hear my footsteps echo as I walked up to the table where a very large, elderly lady peered at me over her horn-rimmed spectacles! I handed my paperwork to her, turned round to begin to recite a piece of Shakespeare. As I began ‘The quality of mercy is not strained…’ all I could see in front of me was this lady’s ample legs wide enough apart for me to see her pink, knee length bloomers! That certainly prepared me for years of professional speaking and being able to carry on when external and internal influences could reduce me to either giggles or tears! It has prepared me for giving eulogies at funerals. It has prepared me for being on national television – below on BBC Breakfast recently speaking about perinatal mental health.  Thank you Peggie Ward!

Have you got children? If so, what hobby can you give to them that may well set them on course for a future career?

We went passed the house that my grandparents moved to in Cleveleys when Grandpa retired. Another  lovely front garden that has been block-paved over to make way for car parking! I wonder if the next generations will share the love of plants and gardening that my Grandpa and Mum did in me?

When I began teaching in a special school I also shared my Fylde coast roots with some of my classes. I remembered taking a nursery class (about 8 pupils) in the school minibus to Cleveleys for the day. We went to my grandparents house for tea and so the children could have a stretch out of their wheelchairs before we drove through the Blackpool illuminations. Grandma and Grandpa spoke about that day for years. I loved to share my passion with them. Another year I managed to get  free accommodation at Pontin’s with my older pupils for a few days. One outstanding memory of that visit was being in Blackpool Tower ballroom with them and having a ‘waltz’!

 I suggested we drove along Blackpool prom on Saturday. En-route we passed Anchorsholme Park. This used to be a favourite place of mine and my  brother, especially on the trampolines. These have been dug up! There is a great deal of building work going on to improve the sea wall.

The road heading south from Cleveleys into Blackpool hasn’t changed in decades. Even the huge Norbreck Castle is still there and I am pleased to say, trading. I learnt to swim in the pool there.

The rain was lashing down and not a good introduction to the town. There were signs of the start of the illuminations being put up. I adored the lights as a child. It used to be a highlight of going back to school in September each year. We would go several times in the week as my parents would never go when it was full of ‘holiday makers’ at the weekend. Initially we would go in my Grandpa’s car, a Hillman Minx. The registration was 88 BLH and that was what we called it.  A very young me with my Mum and Dad..

Often we would only drive a short distance because the car would overheat! When we got a family car, it was the same scenario. Poor Dad would often be on the drive cleaning the points and attempting to get us from A to B!

Blackpool Lights are such a fond memory that years later I wanted to take my son to enjoy it. His Dad and he did not get the same excitement that I did though. I was thrilled to see that a clock tableau was still there. When my brother was little he would look out for the peeping boy. We also used to love guessing which brightly lit tram would appear.

On Saturday we simply drove from one end of the Prom to another and felt sorry for pedestrians battling the wind and rain. I attempted to recreate the scene there from the previous sunny weekend when no doubt the beach would have been full of families enjoying ice cream, building sand castles and getting ‘idiot tans’ – you know where you see the red and white patches the next day?

We headed back to the luxury of our apartment in Poulton and watched some of the Commonwealth Games – Glasgow equally was grey and wet. There was a Booths supermarket nearby so we stocked up on goodies and cooked a very tasty meal.

Next morning the weather had improved a little so we decided to get the train into Blackpool to see it properly. My partner went to get tickets while I got ready. When he came back he said he had met Karen Barber, the partner of Christopher Dean the skater, who was behind him in the queue. It seems she and Dan are friends going back years. Read this article about them.  No – he didn’t ask her for a selfie! Good job it wasn’t me – I probably would have!

We were in Blackpool within minutes. The area immediately you come out of the station is unrecognisable from years ago. My parents had met in Blackpool Winter Gardens. Dad was stationed at Weeton Camp with the RAF and my Mum was one of the many local girls who would go into the town for dancing (and dating). My whole family may not have existed due to the old Talbot Road bus station that used to be here (now a high tech looking car park). It was L-shaped. In the days well before mobile phones, they arranged to meet at the bus station. They both waited for almost an hour – round the corner from each other! They were about to leave and give up on the romance when almost simultaneously they decided to simply check round the corner. Had the number 14 bus been on time my Mum would have got on it and that was a real ‘Sliding Door’ moment for her. They did meet and went on to get married in 1960.

The sight that greeted us on Sunday was a drunk old man, begging for money in a subway filled with litter and take away debris. Not a good first impression. There clearly have been many streets pedestrianised and some have very weird ‘alien’ looking statues.

Once again there was the evidence of the decline of individual, quality stores to be replaced by chain stores and charity shops. Blackpool used to be brilliant as a child. I remember shopping in Lewis’s and Hill’s department stores. They are long gone.

We decided that we would go up the Tower – it was closed due to high winds! The other indoor attractions were so busy due to the weather.  So we chose a ‘can’t beat them so we’ll join them’ attitude for a short while!  It was great fun to get £3 of 2ps between us and see how long they would last in the Penny Falls slot machines at Coral Island. I still had the technique over 40 years later! My Grandparents and parents used to let us have 20p and we knew that when it was gone, it was gone. Good fun.

Each time we ventured outside we got sand blasted in the wind. We took refuge in Harry Ramsden’s and thoroughly enjoyed fish and chips followed by bread and butter pudding! Diet – what diet? The service and food was great. It was also a pleasure to be served by a team who were all so well-turned out and pleasant. It wasn’t the fish and chips ‘sitting on a beach bench’ I had hoped for – we still enjoyed it.

We got a seat in the window and I was amazed at how few trams passed by. In years gone by they ran every few minutes. The thrill was also not knowing which kind would appear – a double decker (huge fun); an old green and cream version where the conductor would put the seat backs one way or the other depending on the direction of travel or one covered in bright adverts.

Unless I am mistaken they now are all high-tech like this one

Call me old-fashioned, but they just do not have the same feel or sound as the old ones. It had been on our ‘must do’ list until we saw them. What a loss!

After a mooch in the Hounds Hill shopping precinct we returned with a new iron for home. What an odd souvenir! We might have considered going to the Pleasure Beach and gone on some rides had the weather been better. Instead it was back to Poulton for our final night of the trip. It was novel to watch the closing of the Commonwealth Games from a bath!

We decided that we shall return to Blackpool one more time in the future to see the lights and go up the Tower – on a fine day!

On Monday morning I woke to the sound of Happy Birthday being sung to me and a beautiful card. It’s quite amazing these days that when you wake on your birthday there is already a stream of good wishes on your phone via Social Media. We don’t have to wait for the postman any more.  My parents had gone away too when I had said we were going to Paris (plan A).  They had got free tickets to see one of the recordings for X-factor.  My Mum rang to say they had been in the queue for them at Wembley since 7.15 a.m! They got seats four rows from the front! I love that they are so young in their outlook!

We packed up at the Breck Apartments and left in blue skies – how different our day in Blackpool would have been had the weather been kinder. 

Sadly last week I had also been to the Fylde coast to attend the funeral of the Mum one of my college friends. It was in a village called Garstang, just north of Preston. As a child we had only been there for an annual Gala day now (below) and then and for an occasional meal at a canal side pub called Th’Owd Tithe Barn.

Whilst parking for the funeral I had noticed what a charming village it looked, and decided to go back for my birthday – a much happier day. We had a very relaxed time and I got treated to several gifts. Can’t think why this was apt for me ….

Every shop we went in were greeted warmly and could have spent a fortune. I had seen a dress in a shop the previous week and was so disappointed because it was closed on Monday. As I pressed my nose against the glass door there was a lady mopping the floor – she asked if she could help and let me try it on even though they were closed! Now that is brilliant customer service! We have vowed to return another day and shall make Garstang a place to stop off at if we are headed north on the M6.

We had a scrumptious birthday lunch in a village a couple of miles away in Scorton. As a little girl we used to drive here on Sundays for an ice cream and walk in the nearby Forest of Bowland.

The wake last week was at The Barn at Scorton. It  is a cafe, garden centre and shop. The food and setting were lovely and apparently it was a favourite place of the lady who had died.  I wanted to go back another day. This was it. I got some more treats.  As we left Blackpool I had made the remark that we hadn’t even got a fridge magnet. As we left The Barn, I was given this one …

That says it all.

Once home I arrived back to flowers and gifts from others. My son had been busy and jet-washed the courtyard for me; repainted the garden furniture and amidst my blooming pots that I have been nurturing, we had a very relaxed and pleasurable meal to round off the long weekend.  Also on the wall we have put up the boat window box he brought me from Flamborough.

It was a very happy birthday. I was glad that I had chosen to ‘go back to my roots’ and share my memories of times gone by.  It was amazing to end the day talking to my son about his plans for the future. His ‘A’ level results will be out next week and he shall start the next chapter of his life.  I hope that he will one day look back at his roots and wonder how his life had been different if I, as his mother, had made alternative choices? Who knows and isn’t that one of the many incredible wonders of this world?

Thank you to everyone who sent me birthday wishes and added even a ‘little thing’ to make it a very happy one.

I am glad I chose to go back to my roots. Paris can wait.

What choices will you make today?

 Elaine 🙂