Letters - August 10, 2017

Dinosaurs bring the wow factor to town

Last evening, I went with my son and his young family to the Jurassic Park exhibition in Stanley Park. What an amazing evening we had.

The dinosaurs are life size, and only when you actually stand close to them, can you appreciate just how huge they were. Seeing a two-year old next to them was eye opening!

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There are about 30 dinosaurs in the display, set amongst the woods and gardens of the park. It is an ideal setting, and the easy walkway around the area gives children the freedom to explore and enjoy the whole experience. There are some dinosaurs the children can play on, around, and amongst. The main dinosaurs roar, they move and they have clear, easy to understand, facts about their species.

We sat by the two ponds while the little ones safely ran around, and the air was filled with the roars of the dinosaurs, but amid the noise, grey squirrels ran around totally unaffected by humans and models.

It was wonderful. The evening was sunny, which did help, but the Jurassic Park exhibition is brilliant. We spent a good couple of hours there, we didnt go until 5pm, but you could easily spend a whole day.

I would recommend a visit to everyone while they have the opportunity.

Viv Critchley

Molyneux Drive

FESTIVAL

Resort is now left playing catch up

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The Punk Festival was founded in Blackpool in the summer of 1996 and has progressed to become undoubtedly the finest punk fest in the world. This annual event generates an estimated income for the local economy in excess of £6m .

Would you believe that 21 years ago this festival was actually not welcomed by several members of Blackpool Council and the tourism chiefs at the time. Why?

Because the appearance of the punks was considered not fit for the family image of Blackpool. This ignorance and discrimination was very ‘short sighted’ and for several years Blackpool lost its annual punk festival to Morecambe.

The Rebellion festival (as it it now known) staged at The Winter Gardens is probably Blackpool’s biggest tourism weekend.

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The punks and the like minded are a mix of all age groups. They travel from around Europe .

Many of them are well behaved, well read, interesting people. Their colourful hair styles and alternative dress sense should not be misinterpreted as fearsome, aggressive or troublesome. The local supportive figures such as former councillor Jonathon Bamborough collectively fought hard to bring back the punk festival to Blackpool several years ago should be applauded.

The festival has evolved massively, simply by innovative joined up thinking reaching out to the wider arts community. The Rebellion annual event is not a diminishing audience market, it attracts new fans year on year.

Some people might question why today Blackpool is clearly behind the times with art and culture. In comparison to other once less privileged provincial towns it’s not unrealistic to suggest Blackpool has fallen behind by a generation.

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Around 20-30 years ago the town had a very staid and complacent approach that was terribly slow to accept and welcome change.

This is why today Blackpool does not have a social history museum, a transport museum, a modern multi-purpose conference centre or even a Christmas market.

These are the kind of things you would ordinarily expect to see in a town like Blackpool that is steeped in unique history and a resort which benefited from over a 100 years of tourism growth and prosperity.

The regeneration and forward thinking initiatives of Blackpool came a little too late. It’s fair to say Blackpool Council officials of today have a very challenging task of bringing Blackpool up-to-date by meeting the expectations of the modern visitor especially at a time when reserves and public funding is at an all time low. Nonetheless the town is moving in the right direction.

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Independent festivals such as Rebellion are great events for Blackpool’s reputation and tourism .

The organisers of alternative music and creative events should be encouraged to return to the resort and not treated with ignorance or contempt.

Stephen Pierre

creative director, Blackpool Jazz & Blues Festival

FRACKING

Time for the army

Here’s an idea. Why don’t the police request the military come and assist with the policing of the protesters?

The army could set up a camp on the drill site and treat it as an exercise thus releasing the much needed police officers back to their normal duties.

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The soldiers could do so many weeks at a time then change units for another shift.

Let’s start getting this disruption sorted out, especially when you read that the protesters don’t care if emergency vehicles are held up by their actions according to a police statement.

It might help if these work shy wasters had all their benefits stopped instead of the government giving them the money to fund their actions in a roundabout way.

Anon

Via email