Some fantastic information has been posted on here since my last visit and a lot of it brings back fond memories
I was brought up in clacton and i used to love visiting the pier every saturday and getting a £3 wristband which not only let you go on all the rides from opening until close but also got you in to see the killer whales, ice skating and a visit to the circus at the end of the pier, talk about value!! This was in the early eighties.
I remember the pieces of the corkscrew being driven onto the pier and assembled. Those were exciting times thats for sure and though i wasn't the first to ride it i did get on the second or third lot. On opening day they spent the first few hours sending it round and round with sandbags in the seats and then they took those out and put the pier staff in for a few times before the public could ride.
In the t shirt shop that is still there to this day they used to sell a rather snazzy t shirt which had " i survived the clacton pier whirlwind" on the front with a picture of the ride itself. It was my most treasured item for many a year. As another poster said, there were water slides installed in the ex killer whale pool in about 1987 but i think they only lasted one season before being sold off. This is when the pier started to go downhill fast and it is sad to see the state it is in now despite Harrison promising to bring it back to its former glory.
The pavillion and the bucking bronco ( 50p a go if i remember correctly) was another great place. I used to love the wild west shooting range that they had there. Unbelievably they still manufacture a similar machine to this day but it is not quite as flashy as the original. There is one upstairs in magic city and another at great yarmouth pleasure beach.
Being from clacton a trip to great yarmouth was pretty rare and when the chance came you had to take it. I once spent 3 hours in the boot of my friends parents car ( 8 people in the car total) just to spend an hour at the pleasure beach. It was in the peak of summer and we had to stop a few times so i could be sick but it was worth it.
Does anyone remember the fantastic scalextric sets they used to have at clacton butlins? They were the bigest i have ever seen and they also had radio controlled tanks there as well.