Louise Bryning
Mirador Arts
21st May 2024
Teenagers of the Fifties and Sixties have taken a musical trip down memory lane in Lytham and Blackpool.
Memories of music, fashion and friendships from years gone by came flooding back to people attending Jukebox Journeys, the first in a series of exciting events taking place on Lancashire’s seaside coast this year during Jukebox: The Teenage Revolution, a celebration of the music and teenage culture of Britain in the Fifties and Sixties.
“Inspired by memorabilia from the Fifties and Sixties, it was a joy to see so many happy faces on people recounting stories and experiences from the ‘golden age’ of the jukebox on the Fylde coast,” said George Harris, co-founder of Mirador who ran the events.
“Even more rewarding was that our events managed to capture these memories for posterity as well as people’s old photographs, vinyl and assorted publications.”
Mirador, a Lancashire-based arts and heritage charity, and Lancaster University Library are working in partnership on the project which is supported with a £50,904 grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund, thanks to National Lottery players.
“I am delighted that the library is working with Mirador to capture the voices and memories of a generation that carved out so much that we consider vital to popular culture,” said Andrew Barker, Lancaster University’s director of library services and learning development.
“These events will enable us to tell the stories of that generation to the current and future generations of our region through voices and artefacts ensuring that the beat created by the jukebox generation will never stop.”
The Jukebox Journeys events took place at Lytham Assembly Rooms and Stanley Park Visitors Centre in Blackpool.
The Visitors Centre will also host coffee bar mapping sessions on June 13 and 20 from 1-3pm as part of the project.
The Fifties and Sixties saw the growth of milk and coffee bars, most of them with jukeboxes, which gave teenagers an escape from parental gaze and freedom to explore their own tastes in music, fashion and style.
Blackpool boasted dozens of such bars and the mapping sessions will aim to identify their locations, resulting in online and printed maps.
Mirador’s approach, employing creative flair allied to solid historical facts, will help everyone who participates in the sessions have a great time and make sense of their heritage.