Nolan Sisters and author Desmond Bagley are among those honoured as blue plaque trail reflects town's history

From singing sisters to a best-selling thriller writer – Blackpool’s culture and history is being celebrated thanks to blue plaques dotted around the resort.

During 2023  five blue plaques were added to the collection, with around 60 now in place around Blackpool.Singing family The Nolans were among those recently honoured.

Joan Humble, chair of Blackpool Civic Trust which oversees the heritage scheme in the town, said they were a good way to remind residents and visitors of local achievements. Plaques also need sponsors to cover the costs of putting them up.

Mrs Humble said: “Blue plaques remind people of buildings that might have been on a site but are no longer there and which are part of the development of Blackpool. We also look at individuals who worked hard and made Blackpool what it is now.

“We have a high bar that needs to be reached and look carefully at any submissions, and are very proud of our blue plaque scheme as it reflects the history of Blackpool. Whenever we unveil a new one, my phone starts ringing and we get a lot of people saying someone deserves a plaque. But we have to make sure whatever they have done is extra special.

"Blackpool really has had over its existence lots of people who deserve a blue plaque, and we look very carefully at the background of individuals – what they did and how that was more than other people had done.

“It is interesting to see the variety of people we commemorate. We also liaise with the council and we need to make sure the plaques go on the right building, and say the right things. We now have a blue plaque trail around the town centre, which we are hoping to update, and it is a wonderful way to show people the history of Blackpool.”

Plaques put up in 2023 are –

• Commemoration of Swallow Sidecars – Armfield Club (unveiled January 10)

In 1922 the site on Bloomfield Road was the original factory for Swallow Sidecars which went onto become Jaguar Cars

• Audrey Mosson – Lonsdale Road (unveiled May 20)

Audrey was the 10th Railway Queen of Great Britain, aged 15, and toured Russia meeting railway workers and Joseph Stalin on a peace trip. She switched on Blackpool Illuminations in 1935, and again in 1985 with Joanna Lumley.

• Nolan Sisters – Cliffs Hotel (unveiled October 16)

The plaque commemorates where the famous Nolan Sisters were discovered.The siblings performed their first show on Christmas Day 1973 at The Cliffs, after which, the Nolan Sisters went on to find global stardom.

• Desmond Bagley – Lord Street (unveiled October 31)

The plaque was unveiled in the centenary year of best-selling thriller writer Desmond Bagley at the property which was his childhood home.He published 17 books before his death in 1983, aged 59, from a stroke

• War Memorial – Princess Parade (unveiled December)

A replacement plaque was unveiled to mark the 100th anniversary of the town’s war memorial with the new plaque reflecting Historic England’s upgrading of the war memorial’s listing from grade II to grade II*.