ocean beach rhyl water chute/.north wales parks

[dave]

last week i was on holiday in north wales and i visited the amusement parks in the area. firstly visited ocean beach rhyl ans went on the last remaining water chute ride which were built by the parks (then marine lake) company albert barnes & co. they built six between 1950 and 1980.
The first went to porthcawl then in order to festival gardens battersea,bellevue,the kursaal southend ,rhyl and blackpool pleasure beach as we all know now a distant memory as the vinkingar which as been talked about elswhere on this forum, i really enjoyed riding it and was a graet ride,such a shame that there is only one left but dont know how long this will stay up and indeed the whole of the park as recent rumours are about the park closing down for yet more supermarket development.whilst i was there last week it was very quite with not much people about but the local schools hadent broke up for the holidays till this week so hopefully will get busier.
i also rode the pepsi loop roller coaster but the jetstream coaster was having some repair work done,all rides were a pound so good value but when passing the park around 6 o clock tea time it was shut which is sad showing that they are struggling.

then i visited knightlys park at towyn another day that only opens at 6 o clock but agian it was quite all the usual travaling rides of knightlys were present, then went to williams tir prince park which had a pinfari roller coaster and a lovely themed huss flipper along with dodgems, go karts
a runaway coaster, terminator top spin.
there is also a set of gallopers and juvenile coaster and rides plus a 6 car juvenile waltzer lovely set on the promenade childrens village in rhyl just past the sky tower.
regards dave....

[Gary]

This annonymous email to themagiceye re Ocean Beach Rhyl:

As I was reading your website,
http://www.themagiceye.co.uk/helterskelters15.html I noticed that you said that the site of the Helter Skelter (at Rhyl) is going to become an ASDA superstore.

I cannot confirm whether or not it will be an ASDA superstore, but sadly, by 2007 the whole of the Ocean Beach funfair will have gone.

This is due to Denbighshire County Council's "redevelopment" of Rhyl's seafront into what will generally be known as "Drift Park", which in turn is part of the Rhyl Going Forward scheme.

Although it mainly involves (as far as the seafront goes) development of gardens and water features, the funfair is not part of that scheme.

Current proposals for the Ocean Beach site include housing, A3 retail shops and non-food retail.

Whatever Denbighshire County Council decide, the only fairground facilities will be in the Children's village (which is pretty poor even today in comparison, and does not offer anything beyond the age of 12) and the nearby resort of Towyn (in Conwy) will continue to offer during the high season a travelling fairground on the Tir Prince racetrack's grounds.

Personally speaking (as a Denbighshire resident) that the Ocean Beach's redevelopment is a disgrace, and more money should be spent upgrading (and even expanding) the fairground.

So I strongly suggest that if you are in the area, that you photograph as many of the rides that you can.

Especially in the end/height of the season, before the non permanent rides are stored away.

I hope that has been some use.

[furie]

Thanks for that Gary. I was wondering what the final fate of Ocean Beach would be. I'd be saddened to see it go, if it was still in a decent condition. When I visited last year though, I couldn't be away from the place quick enough.

The rides were all in very poor condition, the operators surly, and not entirely pleasant. The whole area was just an absolute dump (which is a shame as the lake area at the back looks quite smart.

The problem is that it would need an increadible amount of investment to put it right, but unless Rhyl get rid of the "social problems" that plague it, you'll never entice visitors back there. So the investment would be futile.

It's a real shame as Rhyl (like most of us from the Mersyside area), was a regular day trip and holiday destination. I recently was given cine film footage of me riding the Scrambler, Ski jump and water chute at the fair, around 1980 or so. It was always the highlight of summer going over the Rhyl. It's amazing looking at the beach shots, and of the BMX track they had, how popular it was, and how dead it is nowadays.

The thing I'm saddest about is the Water Chute. They've been one of my favourite rides since I first went on the one at Belle Vue (before it was moved to Blackpool). I'd love to get together enough cash to buy it and put it somewhere else. Save the final one before it ends up on the scrap heap.

[Gary]

This Porthcawl photo from 1980 courtesy of Phil Gould

[porterm]

Furie, (et al)

I fully agree with you on this one. I was thinking it would be great to be able to bring it home to Dreamland, Margate, when the park is hopefully fully restored in the near future. (Says he optimistically). It would certainly be a great day, especially as the park's former version was unwilfully destroyed by its Bembom Brothers' successor promptly on takeover. (That one held special memories for me as it was formerly at the infamous Battersea Funfair).

I thought it would also be rather nice to have the Jetstream roller coaster shipped over to a reinvigorated future Dreamland, as that too was formerly at my childhood playground, Battersea Funfair, replacing its ill-fated Big Dipper, after the Cyclone steel coaster was resited there.

If I ever win the lotto I'll go in with you on this one!

Martin