A nostalgic journey back into the jukebox generation has begun in Lytham and Blackpool.

Jukebox Journeys, an exhibition held in both towns, was the first in a series of exciting events taking place on the coast this year during Jukebox: The Teenage Revolution, a celebration of the music and teenage culture of Britain in the 1950s and 1960s.

It’s a project, run by Lancashire-based arts and heritage charity, Mirador, and Lancaster University Library, is supported with a £50,904 grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Blackpool and Lytham St Annes were the birthplace of the distinctive British jukebox produced by the Ditchburn Equipment company.

Gill Howard enjoying the Jukebox Journeys event at Lytham Assembly Rooms.

placeholder image — Gill Howard enjoying the Jukebox Journeys event at Lytham Assembly Rooms.

St Annes is also home to the Ditchburn Jukebox Museum. Closed since the pandemic, the project will provide opportunities for the public to access th unique heritage attraction for the first time this summer.

To celebrate the British jukebox in the area where it was produced, Jukebox Journeys took place at Lytham Assembly Rooms and at Stanley Park Visitors Centre in Blackpool – and brought back plenty of memories.

The Lytham event was a chance to hear a selection of vinyl records from the 50s and 60s, and an opportunity to share photos, memorabilia and stories from the decades which saw the birth of the teenager. The Blackpool event also included a talk by Adrian Horn, author of Juke Box Britain.

As part of the project, Lancaster University students are capturing the voices, views and memories of people who lived through what was a key period of social change.

Phil Cheeseman from Lancaster Library with Steve Fairclough and George Harris from Mirador Arts at the Jukebox Journeys event at Lytham Assembly Rooms.

The University Library aims to establish an archive to ensure the project has a lasting legacy.

Mirador trustee George Harris said: "This is one of those rare projects which effortlessly combines heritage with warm-hearted personal recollections of a story that is both local and national in significance.

"Jukeboxes afforded an authentic soundtrack to many people's lives in the middle of the 20th century - a special and distinctive era when jukeboxes were pivotal to the energy of youth, to new music, new fashions, new styles, new makeup and new futures.

"We aim to capture this spirit and distill it into a memorable, original and contemporary arts and heritage programme."

If you have memories of being a teenager in the 50s and 60s or photographs from that era, contact Mirador at miradorarts.co.uk/get-in-touch