Visitors to Blackpool’s Winter Gardens were transported back to the Fifties and Sixties as the finale of a project celebrating teenage culture of that era was celebrated.
Jukebox: The Teenage Revolution has been a year-long project inspired by the fact that the first British jukeboxes were produced in Blackpool and Lytham St Annes.
Events have included reminiscence sessions with people who were teenagers in the Fifties and Sixties, a film show, and visits to the Jukebox Museum in St Annes.
The project culminated with a celebration featuring a chance to twist and jive to the sounds of the rock ‘n’ roll era and to see three art installations inspired by those decades including a virtual reality experience, a ‘choose your own adventure game’, and a hair salon with a difference.
“It was wonderful to treat so many of the participants who made our year long project so memorable to a very special celebration day,” said George Harris of Mirador, the Lancashire-based arts and heritage charity who have run the project along with Lancaster University Library.
“The Blackpool Winter Gardens team pulled out all the stops to host the event in their magnificent rooms and the day was a joyous celebration of living heritage.
Almost 100 seniors braved icy cold weather to enjoy a day of memories, laughter, fun and plenty of dancing to hit songs from the 1950s and 60s. The whole thing was topped off with a relaxed opportunity for them to explore three winsome installations created specially for the jukebox project.”
Although the Winter Gardens celebration was the final event of the project, students from Lancaster University are continuing to record memories for an archive at the library which will be a lasting legacy of Jukebox: The Teenage Revolution.
Lancaster University is also home to the Jack Hylton archive, the famous band leader and impresario, who was also instrumental in bringing the jukebox to the UK.
Maps of Blackpool coffee bars where jukeboxes were a popular attraction have also been produced as part of the project and free copies are now available at Blackpool Central Library and Stanley Park Visitor Centre.
About Lancaster University
Lancaster University is a collegiate university in the UK city of Lancaster and a member of the N8 Research Partnership: an association of the eight most research-intensive universities in the North of England.
Lancaster University is a highly ranked UK university with a global reputation for excellence in research and teaching. Lancaster is consistently ranked among the top 15 in all three major UK university league tables and continues to build a growing reputation both nationally and internationally.
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As the largest dedicated funder of the UK’s heritage, The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s vision is for heritage to be valued, cared for and sustained for everyone, now and in the future as set out in our strategic plan, Heritage 2033.
Over the next ten years, the Heritage Fund aims to invest £3.6billion raised for good causes by National Lottery players to bring about benefits for people, places and the natural environment.
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About the Garfield Weston Foundation
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Each year the Foundation gives away its income and donations have continued to grow. Since it was established it has donated over £1.5 billion, of which over half has been given away in the past ten years. In the most recent financial year the Foundation gave away over £100 million to nearly 1,800 charities across the UK.
About Arts Council England
Arts Council England is the national development agency for creativity and culture.
We have set out our strategic vision in Let’s Create that by 2030 we want England to be a country in which the creativity of each of us is valued and given the chance to flourish and where every one of us has access to a remarkable range of high-quality cultural experiences.
From 2023 to 2026 we will invest over £467 million of public money from Government and an estimated £250 million from The National Lottery each year to help support the sector and to deliver this vision. www.artscouncil.org.uk
