The Muppets came to switch on the resort’s illuminations, it was the Winter of Discontent and Blackpool was under a blanket of snow during a freezing start to the year.
ICYMI: 31 unmissable old pictures of how Blackpool looked in 1988 - people, buildings and everyday life
2. Blackpool, 1979
Participants taking part in Fylde rugby sports day Photo: National World
3. Blackpool, 1979
Temperatures in Lytham St Annes dropped to -11 degrees Centigrade the coldest since February 1969. It was colder than Russia, Iceland, and Switzerland Photo: National World
4. Blackpool, 1979
It must have been a miserable summer because the caption on the back of this photo reads: 'Shock appearance of the sun sent youngsters of all ages on to the beach at Blackpool, scratching their heads and trying to remember how to tackle a real summer. Swim suits came out, buckets and spades were dusted down and, for the first time this year, sandcastles proliferated along the shore, with the occasional father buried beneath them' Photo: National World
5. Blackpool, 1979
Sandra Betteridge of Blackpool takes her young customers for a donkey ride Photo: National World
6. Blackpool, 1979
The Muppets at the Blackpool Illuminations switch on in 1979 Photo: National World