Childhood Memories of New Brighton

Remembering New Brighton in the 50s with great memories of my Aunty and Uncle and my cousin who lived in Nottingham, they came down to stay in the Wavertree area of Liverpool were we lived, a couple of times during the year. A day in New Brighton was fantastic, they had nothing like it up there, we always had a trip on the ferry, that in itself was great, running round the boat, hide n seek and all that, then queing to get off the boat and run along the pier and decide what to see first in the fair. it had everything. During my younger years i belonged to The Wavertree Morris Dancing Troups and had the pleasure of dancing in the Tower ballroom in the competitions held there, what a tragedy losing that building . Is there anywere to see any photos of the inside of the tower. In the 60s i had a ride on the chairlift which again was a wonder, to see along the river and over to Liverpool was fab. I'm so glad i was able to experience the best of those times and had parents who took us to see all the interesting places available locally even though money was tight. Trips to New Brighton were only on special occasions but we quite often got the ferry to Seacombe and walked along the prom to the playground just along from the ferry terminal it had a great witches hat. The overhead railway was another of our favourites seeing all the ships in the docks with all their cargo being unloaded. What a great place to live and have the River Mersey on our doorstep and with the plans for New Brighton already started the future looks bright for locals from both sides of the Mersey

As a child I lived in Seacombe and spent many a happy day walking the prom, or the beach if the tide was out, from Seacombe Ferry to New Brighton.

We`d play on the beach, paddle and swim. Then we`d go up to the Tower Grounds.

First stop was the penny slot machines, we were always being told off for banging the machines but it worked! We never put any money in (we didn`t have any!) but we always got some out.

I never got tired of New Brighton Fairground with all its attractions, Dodgems, Waltzer, Caterpillar and all the rest. In my rose-tinted memory it was always summer at New Brighton.

New Brighton played an important part in my teens, but in another sphere entirely. In my band, or "Beat Group" as they were called in those days, we played The Pier, The Tower Ballroom and The Floral Pavilion where we came second to The Casuals in a national competition. Sadly runners-up got nowt. But I still have the memories