Louise Bryning
Mirador Arts
18 November 2024
Music and memories of the Fifties and Sixties will be celebrated at a free event in Blackpool on November 20 marking the town’s place in the birth of the British jukebox, thanks to National Lottery players.
The Winter Gardens, where many top rock ‘n’ roll stars performed, will host the finale of Jukebox: The Teenage Revolution, a year-long project focused on the teenage culture of the Fifties and Sixties.
Blackpool and Lytham St Annes were the birthplace of the distinctive British jukebox produced by the Ditchburn Equipment company and some past employees supplied memories for the project including Valerie Whittle to whom the event is dedicated as she sadly died recently.
Other people who were teenagers in the Fifties and Sixties and recorded their memories of growing up on the Lancashire coast in these pioneering years of popular culture have also been invited to the finale.
The event, which begins at 12.30pm with a buffet lunch featuring food of the period, is entirely free, courtesy of The National Lottery Heritage Fund, who have supported the entire project.
The finale will also include a chance to see three art installations, funded by Arts Council England and inspired by the era, including a virtual reality experience, a ‘choose your own adventure game’, and a hair salon with a difference.
From 2-3pm, there will be a rock ‘n’ roll dance performance with an opportunity to take to the dance floor and jive to some of pop’s greatest hits.
The event ends with free tea, coffee and cake and time for more reminiscing.
Those attending can also take away with them free maps showing the locations of many Blackpool coffee bars where teenagers would congregate and listen to jukeboxes back in the day.
The maps, which are also available at Blackpool Central Library and Stanley Park Visitor Centre, are the result of sessions run earlier this year by Lancashire-based arts and heritage charity, Mirador and Lancaster University Library, partners in the Jukebox project.
Anyone who has participated in the project is invited to the celebration event but should reserve their place