Please note that the new site for this blog can be found at www.paulmaynard.co.uk.
Monday, 16 February 2009
Sunday, 21 September 2008
Campaign Day
Thanks to everyone who turned out to help on Saturday - Anchorsholme has been flooded with Conservative newspapers! Helpers came from far and wide - Blackpool North, Cleveleys, Blackpool South and as far away as Fylde.
It was interesting - and rather sad - going round the houses seeing just how many are vacant, with 'for sale' signs outside, and no sign of much movement. I've also started to see houses which the tell-tale white sheet of A4 in the window, sign of a mortgage repossession, telling the former occupants to remove their goods and chattels. The chill wind of Gordon Brown's economic mismanagement was blowing through the streets of Anchorsholme even as we had the sunniest Saturday I can remember for months.
It was interesting - and rather sad - going round the houses seeing just how many are vacant, with 'for sale' signs outside, and no sign of much movement. I've also started to see houses which the tell-tale white sheet of A4 in the window, sign of a mortgage repossession, telling the former occupants to remove their goods and chattels. The chill wind of Gordon Brown's economic mismanagement was blowing through the streets of Anchorsholme even as we had the sunniest Saturday I can remember for months.
Monday, 15 September 2008
Alys Lancaster
I’m always saying Blackpool can make more of its heritage. The modern and bright resort has its charm and attractions, but the elegance of yesteryear is never very far away either.
And that was proved in the Times obituaries today, which noted the sad passing of the ‘face of Blackpool’ Alys Lancaster at the grand age of 95.
Described as “svelte yet curvaceous”, she was well-known for modelling one-piece woollen swimsuits, and she was much in demand at the opening of swimming pools. Amusingly, the obituary goes on to say that the woollen swimsuits quickly went out of fashion because they sagged when wet – Mrs Lancaster went to the 1938 British Trade Fair in Paris wearing the first rubber swimsuit.
Born in Thornton, her home there was the first in the area to have a swimming pool.
It just goes to show the hidden gems lurking in Blackpool’s past. Maybe the Grundy could put on an exhibition looking at Blackpool’s swimming past?
And that was proved in the Times obituaries today, which noted the sad passing of the ‘face of Blackpool’ Alys Lancaster at the grand age of 95.
Described as “svelte yet curvaceous”, she was well-known for modelling one-piece woollen swimsuits, and she was much in demand at the opening of swimming pools. Amusingly, the obituary goes on to say that the woollen swimsuits quickly went out of fashion because they sagged when wet – Mrs Lancaster went to the 1938 British Trade Fair in Paris wearing the first rubber swimsuit.
Born in Thornton, her home there was the first in the area to have a swimming pool.
It just goes to show the hidden gems lurking in Blackpool’s past. Maybe the Grundy could put on an exhibition looking at Blackpool’s swimming past?
Tuesday, 9 September 2008
A busy weekend
With September being 'food month' with the current 'organic fortnight' quickly followed by 'British food fortnight'. And 2008 is also Lancashire Taste08 year, celebrating all the Red Rose County's excellent local produce. It was appropriate that I had a bit of food trail.
An hour or two spent helping my friend Simon deliver some of his leaflets in Kirkham passed by without me falling head over heels as I did last time I visited that town. Post-delivery I had some coffee in the organic Escape coffee shop - and then I ended up eating tapas at a bar in St Anne's with some other friends, arguing over Sarah Palin, the credit crunch and Gordon Brown's woes. Although tapas maybe Spanish, there was plenty of local food on the menu and we order the local sausage and anchovies.
On Monday I went to one of my favourites, Seniors Fish & Chips, in Thornton, for their speciality John Dory. It's always good to support local fishermen in Fleetwood. After that, I nipped into my favourite deli in Cleveleys, Etchells. A fantastic range of locally-produced food, much better than anything you find in a supermarket. I bought some excellent Dewlay crumbly Lancashire cheese, made in Garstang, and had a chat with the owner about the problems and opportunities he sees on the horizon - rising prices and the squeeze on the pocket are as much a problem for him as the rest of us.
An hour or two spent helping my friend Simon deliver some of his leaflets in Kirkham passed by without me falling head over heels as I did last time I visited that town. Post-delivery I had some coffee in the organic Escape coffee shop - and then I ended up eating tapas at a bar in St Anne's with some other friends, arguing over Sarah Palin, the credit crunch and Gordon Brown's woes. Although tapas maybe Spanish, there was plenty of local food on the menu and we order the local sausage and anchovies.
On Monday I went to one of my favourites, Seniors Fish & Chips, in Thornton, for their speciality John Dory. It's always good to support local fishermen in Fleetwood. After that, I nipped into my favourite deli in Cleveleys, Etchells. A fantastic range of locally-produced food, much better than anything you find in a supermarket. I bought some excellent Dewlay crumbly Lancashire cheese, made in Garstang, and had a chat with the owner about the problems and opportunities he sees on the horizon - rising prices and the squeeze on the pocket are as much a problem for him as the rest of us.
Monday, 1 September 2008
Lights Up
Somewhere in the gloamin' you can just about distinguish me enjoying myself at the Illuminations Switch-On. I thought Scouting for Girls were excellent - Boyzone a bit lacklustre but hit the right buttons. I like Top Gear, but didn't think a 2min appearance worth the hype! Crowd seemed to have a good time, and let's hope the lights have a bonanza year. The photos of Blackpool people on the stretch outside the Savoy look particularly good. Still a bit perplexed why the tableaux further up towards the Red Bank Road lights near me haven't started working yet ... but am sure they're only teething problems.
Wednesday, 27 August 2008
Come Dancing
The Times' photo archive on page 55 has a wonderful shot today of open-air dancing in 1960 on Central Pier.
It say:
"Jollity by the seaside under the midsummer sun
Always considered the 'people's pier' because of it's speciality, open air dancing, the Central Pier, Blackpool, was looked down on in Victorian and Edwardian times by the Lancashire resort's snootier residents as "lowering the tone of the area". Here, in 1960, a crowd of young and not-so-young dancers are oblivious to any social stigma as they enjoy the sun of a June evening. Open-air dancing at the pier head was in fact coming nearing the end of its life and came to an end in the mid 1960s."
Leaving aside the irony of celebrating summer sunshine, this stirs the hopeless romantic in me. I'm not much of a dancer, as many will testify - though a slow cheek-to-cheek can just about be managed. But there is still something ineffably heartwarming about the sight of so many people enjoying themselves so very peaceably - just yards from where, nowadays, Friday and Saturday nights make the town centre a no-go area.
Given the new-found popularity of dancing, maybe now is the time to campaign for a return to tea dances at the end of the pier. It may provide a useful alternative to those not wowed by Joey Blower! Even if Ron Ogden (whose band is providing the music in the picture) is no longer able to provide the entertainment, I am sure someone could be found.
Tuesday, 26 August 2008
Oh photoshop
Oh photoshop. What wonders thou hath wrought. How you seduce and tantalise. How you make me want to believe my eyes and overcome my cynicism.
Four years ago, we found out that John Kerry’s running mate was John Edwards because some clued-in employee snapped the newly-painted Kerry/Edwards campaign jet in the hangar as the paint was still drying. So when an Obama/Veneman jet appeared in a photo that swept the blogosphere, fans of George W Bush’s one-time agriculture secretary worked themselves into a frenzy. All four of them. But, no, it is the much less interesting Joe Biden. Discuss. But not here please!
I disagree with Obama on his general political direction – not that McCain strikes me as much better, given his growing ideological staggers as we near November. So why is there something about Obama which nonetheless appeals. It isn’t some misplaced enthusiasm for US politics that afflicts some – a desire to be near ‘real power’ as it seemed so far away over here. I see no point in herding over the Atlantic to the conventions, wandering round like starry-eyed children in Hamleys just before Christmas, returning with all sorts of natty ideas that never really translate to this country.
It is more the reason that I fell in love with The West Wing. Yes, it’s political, but both that series and Sen Obama seem to suggest that politics has a purpose, and that is not about winning. If you are devoting yourself a constituency like I am, you want to feel you are doing it for a reason which is more than just to get your backside on a green bench. There is nothing wrong with idealism. I think of myself as a cynic sometimes – but then a cynic is just a hyper-idealist who is always disappointed.
So what on earth has all of this to do with either Blackpool or Cleveleys. Mr Obama is hardly likely to make a stop here, although one could consider the historic county of Lancashire as our very own ‘swing state’ over here.
It’s back to photoshop. Artists’ impressions – of which we experience many hjere in Blackpool – are glorified photoshop efforts. Best guesses of what might be if one day the powers that be ever got it together. I’ve said before I would love to see the Grundy do an exhibition of all those artists’ impressions that never came to anything. One artists impression that has finally come to be is Hounds Hill. Debenhams is now open for business and - surprise, surprise - it's just like a Debenhams!
Four years ago, we found out that John Kerry’s running mate was John Edwards because some clued-in employee snapped the newly-painted Kerry/Edwards campaign jet in the hangar as the paint was still drying. So when an Obama/Veneman jet appeared in a photo that swept the blogosphere, fans of George W Bush’s one-time agriculture secretary worked themselves into a frenzy. All four of them. But, no, it is the much less interesting Joe Biden. Discuss. But not here please!
I disagree with Obama on his general political direction – not that McCain strikes me as much better, given his growing ideological staggers as we near November. So why is there something about Obama which nonetheless appeals. It isn’t some misplaced enthusiasm for US politics that afflicts some – a desire to be near ‘real power’ as it seemed so far away over here. I see no point in herding over the Atlantic to the conventions, wandering round like starry-eyed children in Hamleys just before Christmas, returning with all sorts of natty ideas that never really translate to this country.
It is more the reason that I fell in love with The West Wing. Yes, it’s political, but both that series and Sen Obama seem to suggest that politics has a purpose, and that is not about winning. If you are devoting yourself a constituency like I am, you want to feel you are doing it for a reason which is more than just to get your backside on a green bench. There is nothing wrong with idealism. I think of myself as a cynic sometimes – but then a cynic is just a hyper-idealist who is always disappointed.
So what on earth has all of this to do with either Blackpool or Cleveleys. Mr Obama is hardly likely to make a stop here, although one could consider the historic county of Lancashire as our very own ‘swing state’ over here.
It’s back to photoshop. Artists’ impressions – of which we experience many hjere in Blackpool – are glorified photoshop efforts. Best guesses of what might be if one day the powers that be ever got it together. I’ve said before I would love to see the Grundy do an exhibition of all those artists’ impressions that never came to anything. One artists impression that has finally come to be is Hounds Hill. Debenhams is now open for business and - surprise, surprise - it's just like a Debenhams!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
