The Old New Brighton

[Gary]

It must have been in the mid sixties when I first went to New Brighton.

Recollections are few and hazy but it is a place that has always intrigued me ever since.

I remember as a tiny child in my pram next to a roller coaster..

How could a thriving resort lose its beach and then not be able to welcome in the ferry from Liverpool?

Back then my nan said that "the tide had changed" and she was right in more ways than one.

During the seventies, I took several trips with family, neighbours and friends on the train from St James Street station in Liverpool. Sometimes we took a blue bus that went under the Mersey Tunnel.

There was a long walk down a hill from the station. There was evidence of a few seaside shops. There weren't many cars about. There was a Giant Slide outside of the indoor fair where I would invariably end up.

And what a place this indoor fair was back then!! A really exciting place that provided a complete assault on the senses.

How could they fit all these big rides inside a building like that?

The sound of the Hurricane Jets hissing as they climbed to the rafters of the roof, the sound of a deafening claxon from the ghost train at the back (..or was it from the dodgems telling people to push down on the pedals to start or was it from the Go Karts indicating people to stop?)

I went on the ghost train which broke down on two separate consecutive occasions..Once stopping in darkness..and once stopping and all the lights coming on allowing me to see the winding track..The "You've been warned" sign remains embedded in my brain to this day....I could go on...

Little did I know back then that New Brighton, like so many places today was on the edge of change.

I thought money was going to be invested in the area. Maybe it is..When?

I've decided to start a gallery of New Brighton funfair images on my webpage (All images - at the moment - older than I, I hasten to add!)

http://www.themagiceye.co.uk

Please feel free to contribute...It helps keep misty eyed memories alive.

- You know how it is!

Thanks!

Gary