I could not help but think of all the people who continually knock Blackpool as being "down and out" and the fact that we don't have the number of shows to offer to visitors like "the good old days" when I did a quick check on what was on offer last weekend.
The conclusion I came to is that we are still the most prolific entertainment provider outside the West End of London.
There was Joe Brown at the Grand,
Chubby Brown at the Opera House and Joe Longthorne at the North Pier.
That is not to mention Funny Girls Cabaret Show, Hot Ice at the Arena,
Forbidden at the Globe, Ken Webster at the Horseshoe, Legends at Central Pier, Layton Institute Summer Show and Blackpool Tower with its circus and ballroom in
unrivalled settings.
A little further afield there was a Cliff Richard Tribute show at the Marine Hall, Fleetwood and Gilbert and Sullivan at the Lowther Pavilion, Lytham, not forgetting the greatest attraction of all, our magnificent lights – still the greatest free show on earth.
All this in October when the rest of the British resorts shows have been put under wraps for the winter.
Let's not forget that all the venues listed above also present midweek shows as does the Winter Gardens Pavilion with Duggie Chapman's Matinee Music Hall, and of course the large amount of entertainment provided by all the hotels, clubs and social clubs. There really is something for
everyone.
I believe that certain bed and breakfast
establishments should be demolished, but on the whole we do offer our visitors a terrific range of accommodation to suit most
budgets and with the prospect of two more Travelodge hotels opening this will increase.
I feel that the establishments which do not deserve to be operating will, by natural processes, cease to exist in the fairly near
future, which can only benefit the town
One thing that does puzzle me is why the Line 1 service from Pontins to Fleetwood is still operating when we have a Tram service which runs between Starr Gate and
Fleetwood, often empty when buses are full to overflowing?
Yes I realise that the National Bus Pass does not allow travel on "light railways", but surely a trip on the tram is part of a holiday in Blackpool.
Michael Conradd
Waterloo Road, Blackpool



Gran was first stuck up Tower
I've been reading about people being trapped at the top of Blackpool Tower because of bad weather (The Gazette, October 6) and claims it had happened in the past.
Well it certainly has and my grandmother was probably the first to be stuck up there, and left completely on her own, back in the late 1890s.
She was Elizabeth Swarbrick and her job, at 14, was to sit inside the "first
automatic cigarette machine".
But the machine wasn't what it seemed. When people put money in one of the slots, grandma, hidden inside, would dispense a packet.
She told us the tale of how, in a bad gale, she was trapped up there all night because bosses must have forgotten she was inside the machine when everyone went back to ground.
She said that she had been scared stiff and when she was brought down the staircase the next morning the press were all waiting to speak to her.
I'm 74 now and grandma died in the 1960s. Her brother Richard Swarbrick became baths superintendent at Cocker Street and, when it opened, moved to Derby Baths.
Michael Hope
Sussex Road, Layton




Thanks to staff
May I thank the two night staff at the Carousel Hotel, South Shore on
Saturday, October 11.
My daughter and friends had a night out and when she returned to the hotel in the early hours realised she had lost her purse which contained cash and credit cards.
John and Bill paid her taxi, and told her they would contact the clubs and taxi companies. Within an hour the purse was found in the back of the taxi she had got out of and was returned to the hotel.
Not only would the taxi driver not take anything, the gents on duty at the hotel would not either. This restores my faith in human nature and my lass, Linda, will make a visit to thank the gents personally as she was a bit sheepish.
Eric Ritchie
Bury

Nationalise to help poor
Jacqui Morley's timely
reminder on poverty in
Blackpool (The Gazette, October 11) was very well reported, but what an appalling indictment of the inevitable consequence of the capitalist economy that has been enshrined in 11 years of New Labour government.
The scandal of the corporate bosses and major shareholders who have been able to shovel up
millions of pounds in salaries,bonuses and shares every year while children are
living in poverty.
Both New Labour and Tory
governments have refused to tax big business and the rich.
Instead vital public services have been privatised and
Government debt has been
inflated by public private
finance initiatives (PFI).
There should be a programme of renationalisation of the great utilities to control their absurd pricing policies, the ending of PFI in the NHS, which is
syphoning off vast amounts of public cash. Government should also be taking control of the banks, ending their stupid
manipulation of the economy to their shareholders benefits.
Poverty will only be ended by measures to tackle it head on not sitting back and expecting the lavish rewards of the rich to trickle down to us
Royston Jones
Beryl Avenue
Cleveleys



Why take away bank parking?
Although we live in Lytham my wife and I frequently shop in Blackpool, and we are very
impressed with the new parking fees at the Houndshill centre.
We have always found it
convenient when going to Blackpool, to use Barclays Bank at the corner of Lytham Road and Bournemouth Road, which until recently had parking space on Bournemouth Road.
The council has now
installed railings round the parking space.
It is very hard to understand why the council should try to make things difficult and waste money in this way.
Robert S.B. Brewer
Ribble Point, Lytham
Ocean show a great night
What a fantastic show at the Opera House on Tuesday night. Billy Ocean was phenomenal, what a talent and what a great backing band.
They brought the house down.
Ian Jackson
Poulton