Blackpool History, Mystery, Heritage and Hauntings

  Mirrorball – they shoot horses don’t they ! Many years ago while waiting for my new job to start I went around taking photographs of my town and penning now and again for the Gazette and local magazines of the time. In 2006 I had the chance to sit down with Michael Trainor who has been responsible for many of the public art schemes which included “The Great Promenade Show”. The Mirror ball at Blackpool took 3 years from start to finish and was finally lit up in the summer of 2002. Blackpool is also known as the ‘ballroom capital’ of Britain, it’s dimensions, 6 meters in diameter and has over 47, 000 mirrors and is named after the 1969 film with Jane Fonda about a ballroom marathon, hence the official title “They shoot horses don’t they?”. When this was dismantled I managed to get hold of four of the mirrors and boy were they damaged and sand blown with dirt and grit.   Artist Michael came up with the idea as he felt the mirror ball reflected an image of Blackpool that ...

  I have always had an interest in the history and paranormal heritage of my town Blackpool, my late granddad ( Frank Gregson )   used to work for Blackpool Pleasure Beach and I was taken down by him to met the staff and watch what went on behind the scenes and of course watch the changing face of the park as new rides were built and constructed. He used to repair the track on the ghost train from time to time and bore testimony to the rumours that ‘Cloggy’ the former ride operator could still be heard, more on that later and what would happen when he was by himself. This meant I was incredibly lucky as sometimes I got to go on the rides for free , jolly exciting for someone who loves   the funfair. A little bit of back history in 1930 the owners had seen the ride in London and decided to build their own “Pretzel” ride (named after the Pretzel companies, which built them in the USA). The Pretzel Ride was duly opened that year. As the name, Pretzel, was unknown in th...

  So in 1897 Warley Road Congregational Church, Blackpool: This temporary church, on the corner of Warley Road and Gynn Avenue was founded: the members of the Victoria Congregational Church had raised £2,096 in their Jubilee fund which was used to establish the Warley Road church.  Renamed as Claremont Congregational Church was then opened there on the 30 th of August 1901. The chapel cost £5,000 and the land another £1,000. It was built by the Mayor, Alderman T H Smith, from the designs of Anderson, Simon, and Crawford, architects, of Edinburgh. The church was not consecrated until 1932. The Claremont Congregational Lecture Hall and Assembly Rooms opened on the 18 th of March 1908. In 1972, the church became the Claremont United Reformed Church , but closed in 1994. The building later became the Kings Christian Centre , but this had closed down by 2014. It was demolished in October 2017, to be replaced by 15 apartments.  ( extra information by Nick Moore )  ...