SAVE THE CYCLONE!

[Nemesis]

Please sign the petition - it's only one part of a wider campaign (see other posts) but every bit of support will help.

http://www.saveourcyclone.co.uk/


Hopefully it can be listed, although the damage done by the owners, Blackpool Pleasure Beach, I think possibly to prevent listing, may go against us. However, at least the DCMS has agreed to my request to review the refusal to list.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpVFBXwj4IE&mode=related&search=


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzlmJhruEcw

 

[Nemesis]

The Society of Antiquaries newsletter today:

http://www.sal.org.uk


Today's newsletter, SALON, which goes out to the great and the good of the land, carried this report:

Imminent demolition of historic rollercoaster


Betjeman would have been appalled at the mindless vandalism taking place at Southport’s Pleasure Land where a historic Cyclone rollercoaster ─ an important survival of an increasingly rare type of historic amusement park structure ─ is being demolished. SAVE Britain’s Heritage, ever the champion not just of the academic but also of the popular heritage, is calling for demolition work at the unlisted park to stop and for English Heritage to be allowed on site to inspect the structure for listing. SAVE’s Secretary, Adam Wilkinson, said: ‘the unlisted 1937 Cyclone rollercoaster is, in our view, eminently worth preserving and has plenty more thrills to give willing punters. It is a beautiful and intricate structure, like a cat’s cradle, made from 100,000 ft of timber.’ The rollercoaster is one of only five remaining pre-war timber rollercoasters in the UK, and one of nine built before 1960 (of 127 that once existed, the majority were demolished in the 1960s and 1970s).


According to Southport’s local newspaper, hundreds of local people took part in a demonstration on 20 September outside the Southport site, undeterred by the attempts of security guards to smash protestors’ banners. One of those who took part was archaeologist Dr Rob Travis (Vice Chair of CBA Northwest), who said: ‘This ride is over seventy-five years-old and should be recorded prior to being pulled down. Better still, it should not be pulled down but kept as part of our heritage. Apart from being a unique structure it is also home to the Great Crested Newt!’


Peter Crompton, of the Save the Cyclone campaign, added: ‘Built to the design of Charles Page of the Pennsylvania Roller Company, this is a classic figure-of-eight with a maximum height of 60ft and a top speed of 42mph; structures such as this are of great interest in their own right, as well as holding great meaning for the many people whom they have thrilled and scared.’


Also:

http://www.sapling.info/newsletter/200609_cyclone.shtml

it's just been on Autumnwatch on TV - in Southport, filmed today - with Cyclone (what remains) as backdrop to Bill Oddie and Kate Humble!


http://www.southportcyclone.com/

Sadly, it seems that, despite the presence of the natterjack toad and the crested newt, the damage is continuing... while EH dithers about listing. Repair now is looking very expensive.

Amanda Thompson of Blackpool Pleasure Beach, the owner of Pleasureland, Southport, has refused THREE TIMES to allow English Heritage inspectors on site to assess the structure for listing.. and has allowed demolition to contunue.

 

[Nemesis]

More signatures - the campaign is growing, petition featured on Dune FM lunchtime - if you haven't signed please do!



http://www.saveourcyclone.co.uk/


http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/ConWebDoc.4528

The history of Pleasureland. Southport:

http://www.joylandbooks.com/books_new/pleasurelandmemories.htm

 

[Nemesis]

English Heritage sucks....


http://www.coasterforce.com/home/p2_articleid/277

 

[Nemesis]

Not over yet though!


Architects' Journal Oct 6th



English Heritage (EH) has rejected calls to list Merseyside’s famous 1937 Cyclone roller coaster.

The news has been greeted with horror by conservationists, who have warned that there may soon be ‘no pre-war roller coasters left in Britain’.

The Southport amusement park Pleasureland, in which the ride stands, closed earlier this year, and concern has been growing ever since for the future of the Cyclone.

But EH has come down against campaigners who believe that the extraordinary wooden structure ought to be listed and retained.

This decision has been attacked by SAVE Britain’s Heritage, which has been spearheading the campaign to save it, as ‘confused and contradictory’.

The conservation organisation warned that the decision is a further nail in the coffin for amusement-park heritage in Britain. For example none of the rides at Blackpool are listed – the Grand National was refused in 2001.

The Cyclone is made from 30,000m of wood, rises to 18.3m and reaches speeds of 68km/h.

by Ed Dorrell

 

[Nemesis]

The campaign is growing, and here's a great NEW set of pics and video:

The chainsaws are halted at the moment.

http://www.ukrides.info/pleasurecyclone.htm



[Open Image] [Hosted by PhotoGalaxy.com]

 

[plumbers mate]

Newts and Toads don't do it so can someone get some bats to nest somewhere in it?

 

[Nemesis]

River Caves. We hope bats!

Heres an article by Nick Laister about dark rides.

http://www.thegalloper.com/backstories/0703darkrides.html


Just got word to say EH has been able to get onto site to assess some things for a possible listing, also Blackpool.

I've been amassing and researching info on all this and so have sent EH and DCMS a quick e-mail with main details with more to come next week..


Let's hope they don't b*gger it up as usual...

 

[Nemesis]

Anyhow - today have visited Cyclone at Southport - it's still standing, apart from the bit which was demolished. The campaign to save it is growing. Sad I couldn't ride it.

Also managed to ride all the historic woodies at Blackpool Pleasure Beach this afternoon - the Big Dipper, the Little (Zipper) Dipper, the Roller Coaster, the incredible Grand National, and the Wild Mouse. The latter is post war, and pretty hairy stuff.

http://www.s104638357.websitehome.co.uk/html/wildmouse_main.htm

http://www.blackpoolpleasurebeach.com/ride.php?rideType=1&id=41

Pity we couldn't manage Margate and the Scenic as that would have been all the really historic woodies in one day.

http://www.joylandbooks.com/scenicrailway/index.htm


Great ghost train at Blackpool, and the River Caves are wonderful.

Hiram Maxim's Flying Machine was out of action (winds!) but Noah's Ark still rocking away.


http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=170044978215&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMESE%3AIT&rd=1

 

[Nemesis]

New website launched:

http://www.schwps.co.uk/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1

 

[Gervase]

I have this mental image of a building campaigner, hair looking like a burst sofa, whooping and screeching and with a ludicrous grin plastered across her phizz while careering upside down across the Blackpool skyline, sticks of rock and candyfloss flying.
It's rather scary - the white-knuckle ride of the Valkyrie, perhaps... :wink:

 

[Nemesis]

Hah - dead glam woolly hat and a heap of fleeces and undies - it were bloody freezin! Rather barrel shaped these days, and getting in and out of some of the cars needed a winch.

No upside down - Tramatizer isn't installed yet...

Still, the historic woodies are terrifying enough for me (apart from the Little (Zipper) Dipper - more my style...)

I was the one with shut eyes and yells of 'Oh S**T!!!' everytime we had 'airtime' - or bottomed the dips especially on the Nash, although it is one of the greatest rides ever...

http://www.ukrides.info/bpbnational.htm


http://www.s104638357.websitehome.co.uk/html/grandnational_main.htm


The Wild Mouse - never ever again...

http://www.ukrides.info/bpbmouse.htm


It was all in the name of research...

Sad not to ride Cyclone:

http://www.ukrides.info/pleasurecyclone.htm

 

[Gervase]

Wow. Looks fun, and the embedded videos are an excellent idea with the ukrides site.
The only time I've ever ridden a Pleasure Beach ride was a bizarre trip on the Pepsi Max Big One (or whatever it was called) with Matthew Parris during a Labour Party conference more than a decade ago. We agreed that it was something to have done once but not to be repeated.

 

[Nemesis]

Too much in one afternoon!

The Big One - thankfully, out of action as gale force winds, and the other half has already ridden it and it wasn't part of my research so I was spared (which I fear I may not have been had I been forced onto it...) Pretty terrifying stuff that first lift and drop, although it's all, I think, a bit of an anticlimax after that.

The Wild Mouse is really scary though - you seem to be heading for off the track on so many occasions! The undertrack wheels are at the rear, and you hang on in there at the edge way above the heads of everyone with no visible means of staying there...


Traumatizer is being installed for next season, which they have dismantled from Southport. That loops and you hang from it. But it's not a haistoric woodie.

http://www.s104638357.websitehome.co.uk/html/birthday_bigten.htm


That link is worth following not so much for the Pespsi Max - but to read about Miram maxim's Flying Machines, Blackpool still has one.

It really is an amazing place, with the wonderful Casino building, and still so many historic rides there - although for how long I dread to think.

Ms Thompson is flooging off the 1934 cars from the Turtle Chase on e-bay. The rest of the ride will be scrap.

http://www.schwps.co.uk/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1

Save our Cyclone!

 

[Nemesis]

Hey - airtime!

New and brilliant vid of Cyclone and Pleasureland from Peter Proctor, who knows more about coasters than most:

1937, designed Charles Paige:


http://youtube.com/watch?v=g5hChViN_FI

 

[Nemesis]

New pics:

http://www.28dayslater.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=5224


(not to be read by those with an aversion to bad language, but these guys get great pics)

The dinos are in the River Caves, 1922 - only two of these 'dark rides'left now in Britain.