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PostPosted: 28 Sep 2010, 20:23
by cboxe
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Hello im a new to the site. I am currently working on the pavilion and I saw this old sign that brought back some memories. We are currently doing all the external rendering on the building and I must say it is a shame to see the building in this state.

My grandpa Norman Reece owned the pavilion from mid 70's to early 90's along with his partner Martin Crook. I spent a lot of my childhood at the pavilion and my mum has a lot of photographs at home from when he owned it i.e the house of horrors and the bucking bronco, crazy golf etc. When the lease was up, Billy Pete took over and is still the current owner carrying out the work on the pavilion. I do have more pictures to upload of the current state but these are on my mums camera at the moment.

I also heard someone mention what was going on in oscars old site, we also currently do work for the Ball family and they have stripped the area back to a shell and have current plans to build more amusements and another bowling alley. :)

PostPosted: 30 Sep 2010, 19:05
by FATBOY
hi there mate and welcome to the site! i remember the old fazer force days! spent many a saturday down there!!! be good to see some pics of how the place is coming on! the company my brother works for SILVERTONS has been delivering materials to there. what is the place actually going to be now?

PostPosted: 30 Sep 2010, 19:38
by cboxe
its in abit of a state now very wet and damp but that's what u get when u don't spend money maintaining it! I don't think bille pete has really spent a penny on it since he took it over from my grandad. Its going to be a bowling ally and a restaurant and arcade

PostPosted: 30 Sep 2010, 20:24
by Chief Engineer
Hi cboxe,

Welcome to the site and to the thread. I have been neglecting the Pier's little brother lately in not keeping up with the history and memories of the Pavilion. I certainly grew up and spent many happy hours in the Pavilion (no entry fee to pay unlike the Pier) when your granddad and Martin would have been running the place, in later years I did get to know Martin quite well until his health deteriorated.

I am certainly looking forward to seeing some of those memories captured in those photographs.

Regards
CE

PostPosted: 10 Jan 2011, 20:01
by FATBOY
good to see the pavillion coming along nicely. ive noticed the other day that there is an entire new roof covering the open air bandstand now.. any pictures inside would be appreciated

PostPosted: 12 Jan 2011, 21:56
by kevin
Yes I was there on Sunday. The seaward fascia is looking good.

What worries me though is that there is currently another bowling alley being built 50 yards away on the pier! Someone's going to lose out.

PostPosted: 13 Jan 2011, 21:31
by FATBOY
is there deffo gonna be bowling alleys in the pavillion??? pier would have 2/3 maximum i would say? so i reckon a few more in the pavillion wouldnt hurt and would provide healthy competition :D

PostPosted: 18 Feb 2011, 15:25
by lynsey
hi good to see the pavillion finally getting a facelift. As it was part of your family who owned the pavillion do you have any details about "charlie" (my nme for him) the clown that sat out the front i'd love to know when he was first there and any other memories of him as i really loved him. Thanks

PostPosted: 21 Feb 2011, 20:42
by FATBOY
welcome to the site lynsey

not sure if youve seen this on youtube! very interesting. its a shame to hear that he was fished out of a skip :( but good to see that hes in safe hands now

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3BAf-QKIWQ

PostPosted: 23 Feb 2011, 09:21
by lynsey
hi, yes i have seen it thanks. does anyone know if he was the same one featured in one of the very first episodes of hi de hi? i know part of it was filmed in dovercourt and some in clacton butlins so its possible, it certainly looked like it could be. Any one with any info or memories of :wink: this beloved clown would be welcomed thanks

PostPosted: 01 Apr 2011, 22:54
by Graeme
Honestly, my heart soars to see all this work going on. I've always loved Clacton, but it hasn't been this exciting since the '80s.

Do any of you know which type of coaster they're building atop the Pavilion? It looks like a Zamperla, like the new one at Southend. Sorry for the poor photos, I didn't have my proper camera:

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PostPosted: 02 Apr 2011, 14:42
by lynsey
:shock: at last things are being ready to open, don't know about the coaster as not seen it yet, but not sure i like the idea of young kids climbing around up there, hope theres gonna be good health and safety or else i forsee mega problems. Any one know whether they still plan to make it bowling in the pavillion as seems a bit odd to do it there and the pier. Also anyone know more about the stairs inside the shop bits and which part of the pavillion they go to - i wondered if they used to go into the old shell bit.

Still love to find out more about the clown too.

PostPosted: 18 May 2011, 16:02
by ijtharper
Well hello everybody. Having stumbled upon this thread, I’d like to contribute with a few pictures from my childhood. My gran used to take us to Clacton on holiday every 2 to 3 years. She took a lot of photos which she got printed as slides. You may have seen the clown having been rescued from a skip? Well, to cut a long story short, I have provided someone with jpegs of my gran’s slides from the 1970s to help him with a project he is working on. There are also slides showing the rides atop the pavilion. For anyone interested, here they are. They are a mix of shots from 1975 and 1976.

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PostPosted: 18 May 2011, 16:13
by ijtharper

PostPosted: 18 May 2011, 16:15
by ijtharper
i've got loads of memories of the pier and pavilion from this era and right through to the mid-80s. look forward to exchanging memories with anyone interested, especially of the "king kong" head on the back wall of the pavilion "pit" which i have hazy memories of but haven't yet seen anyone online referring to...!