BLACKPOOL ILLUMINATIONS? I'M LOVIN' IT! (Blackpool Illuminations)

Member Name: Richada

Product:	Blackpool Illuminations
Date:	12/11/06 (3129 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Bright and Breezy

Disadvantages: Cheap and Sleazy

Think "Blackpool" and if you are anything like me, the first images that will come into your mind are of the Illuminations, A.K.A "the Lights". Yes, this very well known Lancashire sea side holiday town evokes other images too; kiss-me-quick hats, candyfloss, the chilling "Big One" at the Pleasure Beach and probably even the famous Tower. The Golden Mile of sandy beach is a big draw for summer holiday makers and trippers from the north-west too.

For my wife and I though, apart from holding our wedding at the Blackpool Registry Office (long story!), the main draw of this particular destination each year is the Illuminations.

My association with the Blackpool Illuminations goes back well over ten years. As a single traveller, born and bread in Blackpool's biggest commercial rival (Brighton), Victorian seaside towns always held a real fascination for me. I am not sure if my friends thought me too much of a snob, or perhaps that the attractions of Blackpool would prove too childish for me to enjoy, but I well remember conversations along the lines of "oh no, not your kind of place at all, Blackpool". In a sense they were partly correct, those candy floss stalls, rock shops and kiss-me-quick hats were of no interest to me even as a child. What had always fascinated me however was the spectacle of the seafront Illuminations, first seen as a 35 year old and only missed one year since, last year, when we arrived in Blackpool three weeks after they had been turned off!

AN ILLUMINATING LITTLE HISTORY LESSON!

Due to its geographical position, Blackpool is less of an all year round resort than Brighton. Traditionally it was the seaside town to which the cotton mill and engineering workers of the north-west flocked for their "wakes weeks" holidays. For a very narrow slot of the summer period, Blackpool burst at the seams with holiday makers, come September the place closed for the winter. The hotel and bed and breakfast trade, which has always formed a major part of the economy there, really needed to extend the season in order to survive.

The origin of the Blackpool Lights goes back to May 1879, advertised by the authorities of the day as "Artificial Sunshine" - eight electric arc lights shone over the Promenade. Indeed as a town, Blackpool was the first in Britain to have streets actually lit by electricity anyway.

Like any other pioneering scheme, those early electric light experiments had their problems. The lights had to be turned off when the tide came in as the iron pipes through which the electric cables ran were not water-proof! In May 1912 Princess Louise, on the first royal visit to Blackpool, opened a new section of Promenade - aptly named as Princess Parade, this marked an expansion and turning point in the history of the Illuminations.

Whilst the new lighting fixtures for this event were fairly normal for sea side towns of the day - festoons of lights hanging over the Promende, they were starting to take on a far grander scale and, partly due to the royal patronage, attracting visitors in big numbers. In all at this stage (1912) there were a total of 10,000 light bulbs lit, that compares with this years display of 1 million!

The display of lights in May had been so successful that traders and hoteliers all over the town had felt a considerable benefit in trade. The council agreed to stage another light show through September of 1912, a month when traditionally the holiday period was finished. Thousands of extra visitors came to Blackpool to view the spectacle, it was judged by all concerned to be a total success. Thus was born the Blackpool Illuminations as we now know them.

Each September from 1913 until the outbreak of the First World War the Illuminations were staged. Rather like a family's Christmas decorations which are added to, and made a little more comprehensive each year, so the Blackpool lights spread and grew. After the War, it was 1925 before Blackpool was again illuminated, again they proved a great tourist draw to a town that lived and breathed tourism.

These lights must have done a lot to brighten the depressed era that was the late twenties and early thirties. By 1932 they had reached their current length, i.e. six miles, stretching continuously from Squires Gate in the east, to Red Bank Road in the west. The final section of lighting displays were, as now, a series of animated tableaux on the cliffs between North Shore and Bispham.

Other Blackpool "features" such as the Tower and trams were already being decorated with lights, pulling them into the overall spectacle. On 31st August, 1939 the lights were switched on in their full glory, a magnificent new search light swept the horizon from the top of the Tower. The following night Blackpool was in total darkness, World War II had begun, the lights were not to be staged again until ten years later. That year (1949) the council had to gain special permission from the government in order to use the considerable amount of power required to illuminate six miles of the Lancashire coast.

During the following half century the lights have become ever more comprehensive in terms of number, colour, design and of late sheer hi-tech appeal. The period over which Blackpool is illuminated has also spread somewhat, this year for instance they were switched on 1st September and will be finally extinguished for the winter this Sunday - 5th November.

ALLOW ME TO SHINE SOME LIGHT ON THE TECHNICALITIES

1) Costs & Benefits

This is no cheapjack venture, no sir! This year the cost of laying on the lights was £2.4 million. The equipment built up over the years is estimated to be worth £10 million.

It is estimated that the lights will consume £50,000 worth of electricity - when you stand on Blackpool Promenade you would be surprised that the figure is not MUCH higher!

Obviously it is not possible to exactly quantify this, however, the council estimate that the Illuminations attract an EXTRA 3.5 million visitors to Blackpool, these visitors are reckoned to spend £275 million in the town.

2) Timing

To put up the six miles of lighting it takes the council lights team 22 weeks.

The Illuminations are lit for 66 consecutive nights.

They are switched on after sunset, and are switched off (in stages starting at the Bispham end) during the week and on Sundays at 11.30pm, Friday nights at midnight and on Saturdays at 1.00am.

After 5th November 9 weeks be taken to carefully take them all down again.

3) Manpower

There is a full time council staff of 45 employed to build, look after, design, rig and then dismantle the lights. These are skilled craftsmen too - artists, painters, joiners, mechanics and, naturally, a team of electricians.

In total, 65,000 man work hours are taken up throughout the year, planning, building and maintaining the lights.

The council lighting department is run by a gentleman by the name of Richard Ryan - known as Mr Lights due to his sheer enthusiasm and dedication to the Blackpool Illuminations. His predecessor described the work as being "so specialised it is probable that this department is the only place in the country where illuminations techniques can be learned".

4) Weights and Measures

This is a weighty matter! In total the equipment strung out along Blackpool front weighs 711,000 kilograms. Included in this weight are the one million bulbs and 200 miles of electrical cable to make it all work.

Yes, 200 miles of cable to light up six miles of Promenade!

THE STARS COME OUT TO SHINE IN BLACKPOOL

Whilst here in the south of England we do not get to hear much about the grand "Switch On Ceremony", in the north-west it makes big local news each year. I well remember my friends up there proudly telling me that "one of Take That" was to throw the switch - ah yes, that would have been Garry Barlow, 1999 I think!

This year, presumably following a local Supermarket Sweep, Dale Winton performed the honours! Big names too have accepted this honour though, Shirley Bassey, Chris De Burgh, Les Dawson (a local), Terry Wogan, Lisa Stansfield (one of my favourites!) and even in 1977 Red Rum. Quite how the famous race horse managed to flick the switch I cannot imagine!

An illuminating list of names from the past switch-ons include George Formby, Stanley Matthews, Jane Mansfield, Gracie Fields, and Kermit the Frog.

IF THE FACTS AND FIGURES HAVE NOT YET TURNED YOU ON, THEN MAYBE RICHADA'S PERSONAL GUIDE TO THE LIGHTS WILL!

As a fully grown man, I well remember my first sighting of the Blackpool lights after dark, it took me back to a childhood that I had never known. These are not Christmas lights as we will all have experienced in Regent or Oxford Street, or indeed in our own home towns. No, these are altogether more colourful - tacky even to some!

For those of you who have not visited Blackpool, it is blessed with a very long, sea front, stretching from Squires Gate out to Fleetwood in the far west. Blackpool is pretty much centred on the Tower, which provides a focal point for the whole town. Almost as impressive in proportions is the "Big One" - a huge roller-coaster situated in the Pleasure Beach complex to the eastern end of the front. Both of these steel constructions extend the illuminations high into the sky, regrettably, this year, when we visited Blackpool to see the lights, the Big One was not illuminated with its beautiful blue lighting.

For the purpose of this review, that actually may be seen as an advantage - as it did nothing to detract - or enhance, the illuminations of the Blackpool Lighting Department. Each year there is something new to see, each year the lights look different as they are re-positioned so that you view them in a different order.

There are several options when it comes to getting the best out of a visit to Blackpool after dark. The most popular one seems to be to "cruise" the six miles of sea front in the car. In the early autumn, slightly warmer, months you see people hanging out of their car windows or standing up through open sun roofs waving cameras about. Many coach operators offer tours of the lights - often including local accommodation, there are hundreds of hotels and bed and breakfast establishments situated on the front here, in many you do not even need to step out of your room in order to see the lights.

Locals tend to recommend a trip on one of the famous Blackpool trams, yes, probably a good way of seeing them, although for a photographer like me, their salt caked windows are a little off putting. Special "Illumination Tours by Tram" are available at the very reasonable cost of £4 for adults, £3 for children. These leave from the North Pier tram stop shortly after the Illuminations are switched on. At busy times, weekends, bank holidays and the October half term, there are several tours laid on, often using some of the corporations vintage tram stock.

My method of choice - given sufficient time, a fine evening and a pair of comfortable shoes would be to walk from Squires gate to the western end and catch a bus or tram back. At the busy times mentioned above, yes we have made the mistake of doing this on the half term week(!), the traffic is absolutely chock a block - it once took us two and a half hours to view the Illuminations, thirty minutes queuing to join the sea front at Squires gate, the other two hours to creep along the six miles of sea front! Away from these peak times, Blackpool sea front is quite comfortable, so it proved to be this year, although it still took us an hour and a half to view and photograph the lights.

During the peak periods there are collection points both for donations for the lights and some local charities. During the week you are free to view the lights without being requested to make any donations whatsoever. This is quite some free show.

For the purposes of this review, and because I wanted to "experiment" with my digital camera, we combined driving and walking in order to see the lights. It was quite cold and windy when we went on Wednesday 11th October. There was very little traffic on the sea front, and plenty of parking places to pull into, allowing us to get out of the car and walk to a suitable vantage point to take the photographs. If you want to photograph the lights, you will need to take a good tripod, in order to get the best pictures.

MR AND MRS RICHADA TRIP THE LIGHT FANTASTIC!

Entering the sea front at Squires Gate, you are greeted by some old favourites, Party Poppers and wine glasses before entering the new tunnel of very bright "white" light, sponsored by Beaverbrooks the Jewellers. Stopping us in our tracks was the sight of the worlds largest mirror ball - positioned on the New South Promenade. Mounted on top of a pole, the revolving ball has 45,000 small mirrored squares, towards which, three light balls project coloured lights and patterns onto the mirror ball. We watched for many minutes mesmerised by this scene, the same colours and patterns never appearing to repeat.

Back into the car and further along the front we are stopping to take pictures of cameras and fancy tiffany lamps in the form of mermaids holding colourful parasols. Almost as colourful as the lights themselves, are some of the buildings lining the seafront here, the casino, Sand Castle and amusements arcades - all lit in gaudy colours.

Further along the front, cartoon characters vie for place with sponsored messages - "I'm lovin' it" prominently amongst them. Blackpool is very much a McDonalds kind of town, the Big M have spent £3 million refurbishing their six restaurants here over the last year, and are happily blazing their corporate message in lights.

Now approaching the centre of town and the Blackpool Tower, you will be looking at a touch of the Caribbean, here in Lancashire with brightly coloured surfing characters making up an "Aloha" theme. This is where the Golden Mile actually starts, Blackpool's central and prime beach area close to the Tower and Talbot Square.

My favourite display of the whole lot is mounted each year on the Glynn roundabout. One year they had a fabulous display of dancing horses - all done in lights, imitating a carousel. This years' offering here was the most tasteful of all the light displays, a large growing tree, with leaves and flowers opening progressively towards the top.

After driving for another mile or so, you will come to the remarkable tableaux displays. So far, the lights have mostly been overhead, now these disappear to be replaced by large vertical displays on the sea side of the road. Over the years, these displays have become increasingly animated, firstly with the use of sequenced lights, latterly even with pyrotechnic and sound displays incorporated too.

As with the overhead lights, there are far too many here to describe individually. However, one of the very last, at the Bispham end of the front, caught my attention - partly because of its animations and partly due to its theme. Entitled "The Green Machine", a completely new display this year, it makes history as being the very first of the Illuminations to be powered by solar and wind generated energy. Its' message is one of healthy living and promoting renewable energy, enabling both us and the planet to live a longer and more healthy existence. With lights, sound and animation, this 110ft (33.5 metre) long tableaux was undoubtedly a huge success.

Finally, just to prove that all of this really is for the kids - rather than the likes of middle aged RICHADA - here at the end of this spectacular display is good old Postman Pat, incredibly celebrating his 25th appearance in lights this year.

It had taken us longer than anticipated to drive the six miles of Blackpool Illuminations. Almost as soon as we turned around for a second look on the way back, at 11.30, the phased switch-off began. We concluded, as the lights literally went off in front of us, that we enjoyed this spectacular free display as much this year as we ever have.

This year the Blackpool illuminations ended in a blaze of glory with fireworks displays on both the final Saturday and Sunday nights.

Summary: One of Britains great free attractions