From the very early days of beach hut changing facilities protecting our ancestor's modesty to the heydays of the 1976 heatwave, the piers, storms, Punch and Judy and everything in between, these photos capture the magic and appeal of our beach.
Whenever I put a gallery of pictures together, it never ceases to amaze me how different things were, yet it is still all so familiar. And I can barely believe how many people packed on the beach back in the day!
In case you missed them...
19. Blackpool Beach through the years
Shallow water brings safe fun for these trippers, while others prefer sailboats to oars as they leave the sands of Blackpool Beach | National World
20. Blackpool Beach through the years
Blackpool from Central Pier in 1900, showing the tower (opened in 1894) and the ill-fated 200-foot Gigantic Wheel (1896-1928). The huge crowds on the beach and the assembled bathing machines typify the hey-day of the Edwardian resort. Most people paddled, the men decorously attired in suits and caps, their trouser legs rolled up to the knee | National World
21. Blackpool Beach through the years
The Wreck of the Foudroyant battleship on Blackpool beach, 1897 | National World
22. Blackpool Beach through the years
Green's Punch and Judy, first established in 1880, continues to attract the crowds in 1965 as children abandon their sandcastles throw down their buckets and spaced and race to get a good vantage point | National World
23. Blackpool Beach through the years
Donkey rides on the beach in front of the old Palatine Hotel and the bottom end of Adelaide Street, in 1898 | National World
24. Central Beach before the turn of the century. Where the Sea Life Centre now stands was Read's swimming baths and public market bazaar in the late 1800's
National World