FRONTIERLAND

THE SAD STORY OF MORECAMBE'S FAIRGROUND

This page tells the story of how the once-great seaside resort of Morecambe has plunged into decline.

The actions of one family have destroyed Morecambe and Southport by depriving them of their fairgrounds.

This poignant YouTube video by Josh Ormerod and Dean Batty sums it up.

There are a few other websites and YouTube videos that tell the story.

Click these links to see them.

THE VISITOR - a brief history of Frontierland

JOYLAND BOOKS - interview with DJ Clark

YOUTUBE VIDEO by "Collegefreaks2000" showing the rides in action in the summer of 1992

YOUTUBE VIDEO by "Swampfoxer" showing a ride on the wooden roller coaster in 1996

Back in 1982, I was a volunteer driver for Liverpool Community Transport, having passed my PSV test, but still employed in a clerical capacity by Merseyside Transport. The vehicle I usually drove was a 42-seat Leyland Tiger (PJX 34) that started life with Halifax Corporation. (Co-incidentally, PJX 35 is now a resident of Dewsbury Bus Museum).

I was given a job taking a group of “deprived” youngsters from Liverpool City Centre to Blackpool for a day trip. The youngsters were probably better described as “depraved”, but during the journey they made a request that was to impact upon me for years to come. They pointed out that the Blackpool Pleasure Beach charged “per ride”, whilst Morecambe Pleasure Park gave you a wristband with which you could ride all day – a far more economic proposition, and one that was, at the time, unique. So we diverted to Morecambe.

I was impressed. There was a log-flume, a wooden roller-coaster (the “Texas Tornado” dating from 1937), a chairlift that took you out over the promenade and back, a miniature train, Noah’s Ark, dodgems, “Wild Mouse” and many others. From that year on, I took the St James’ Junior Club there by coach every summer as well as organising days out with my mates or girlfriends of the time. In 1986 the park was re-named “Frontierland”, and more attractions were added.

By 1990 I had left Liverpool and had children of my own. We continued visiting Morecambe every year until 1995, when we rode on the newly-installed Polo Tower. Imagine my shock to discover that Frontierland is no more. But what is more shocking was the story of its demise, along with the funfair at Southport, which held many happy memories from my childhood days.

By the mid 1990s, Geoffrey Thompson owned Blackpool Pleasure Beach, Southport Pleasureland and Morecambe’s Frontierland. Possibly to avoid his Morecambe and Blackpool sites from competing with each other, he sold the Morecambe site to Morrison’s, who planned to build a supermarket. Frontierland closed on 7th November 1999. A few rides were operated by another firm in the summer of 2000, but then the park was closed and razed to the ground. All that now stands is the logflume and the Polo Tower. Neither are operational. The Polo Tower survives purely because a mobile phone company have a transmitter on top of it, and the contract runs until 2013.

In September 2004, Geoffrey Thompson died, leaving his empire to his money-grabbing daughter Amanda. A clause in his will stipulated that Southport Pleasureland must continue in its present form for at least two years after his death. So, two years and one day later Amanda Thompson sacked all the staff and closed the park. Rides that could be moved were dismantled. The Trauma-Tizer was moved to Blackpool, the others put into storage. (If she’d sold them, someone else could have used them to compete with her). The permanent fixtures (River Caves, wooden roller-coaster “Cyclone”, amusement arcade buildings and fun house) were simply bulldozed. Electric supply cables were removed and the site abandoned. Although someone else is trying to re-vamp the site, it is basically gone forever.

So now, following the demise of the Rhyl fairground, Amanda Thompson owns the only big seaside fairground on the west coast of England. Her next breath-taking money-grabbing stunt, launched in 2009, is to charge people £5 each just to enter the grounds, then pay for each ride on top of this! Reviews on the Internet describe rude non-English-speaking workers serving low quality food, many occasions when several big rides are closed, and general scruffiness throughout.

Donna’s Dream House, the Blackpool charity offering free holidays for seriously-ill children, provides free passes generously donated by Blackpool Tower, Louis Tussaud’s waxworks, the Sea Life Centre, Blackpool Zoo, the Model Village etc, but Amanda Thompson’s Pleasure Beach refused to make any concessions here!

Frontierland was a fantastic place to spend the day, as was Southport’s Pleasureland. Well done, Amanda Thompson & family. You have destroyed thousands of people’s memories, and with it the livelihoods of two seaside towns. But the writing is on the wall. Blackpool Pleasure Beach is getting so much bad press lately that it looks like you’re going down next!

Glory days.....

This photo by D J Clark shows the fair in action on a glorious summer morning.

But the clock was already ticking....

Click on the Joyland Books link at the top of the page to see more photos by D J Clark, and read his interview.

The dream is over.....

This photo by Sarah Bury was taken in 2008. The logflume lies derelict, eight years after closure.

Those were the days.....

This photo was taken on 24th October 1987, on a trip that I organised for the cast of "Jack and the Beanstalk" that was being performed by the youth groups of the Liverpool South-East Circuit of the Methodist Church.

Verity Jones is in front, Nicola Wilson in the middle and Helen Martin at the back. Where are you now, girls?

THE WRISTBAND

This was simply a loop of string placed over the wrist with a sticky-back label folded over to hold it in place. It was impossible to remove without damaging it. Simple, but effective.