Illuminating experience in Blackpool

1 November 2021


UK
Ken Cupitt, Exam Board Chairman of Guild of Cleaners and Launders (GCL) and Master of the Worshipful Company of Launderers (WCL) organised a trip to Blackpool and Lake Windermere so the industry could take a breath of fresh air and enjoy a family break after getting on for two years of tough times. Here, he gives his personal account of proceedings over the weekend of 22-24 October.

Some chose to stay in Blackpool itself while other chose accommodation in the Lake District where some families indulged in some late autumn caravanning and camping.

“Saturday – following on from Friday night which kicked off with tram spotting in the evening, see photograph – was overcast for the shipboard trip across Windermere to Lakeside on the opposite shore further south. But still the iconic views were breathtaking. I was early for the ship boarding time which allowed some town sightseeing and shopping experience meeting up with launderers who had come on a camping or caravan holiday weekend. Then, a 40-minute ship board journey across the lake on the steamer ‘Teal’ to the small town of Lakeside to board the steam train to the Haverthwaite. Steam train travel is a distant memory of bygone years for some and can be a new experience for others, but a unique day out for all.

“I finished off that evening with dinner with industry friends, where we were joined by Carol Seamer, a visitor from New Zealand who was keen to see how we spend our leisure time here in the UK.

“After the meal, it was the famous Blackpool illuminations, a very popular attraction, perhaps more so this year because of restrictions on foreign travel. The Promenade was packed and the trams had to stop because of the weight of people. However, the town officials had put on a firework display on the North Pier just outside of the famous Tower which was spectacular and well worth seeing.

“Sunday morning trams were running as normal as I made my way to the town centre to join others queuing to get into Madame Tussauds on the South Shore promenade where I met a wide variety of famous people, although wax effigies, amongst them Her Majesty the Queen and their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, but only after seeing a wide variety of other celebrities from TV programmes and famous film screen actors.”



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