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.
Anyone interested in mapping Blackpool’s coffee and milk bars is welcome to the sessions and anyone with memories of being a teenager in the Fifties and Sixties or photographs from that era, please contact us.
Further information
For more press details about Jukebox: The Teenage Revolution please contact Louise Bryning at louisebryningpr@gmail.com
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.
About The National Lottery Heritage Fund
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.
The Heritage Fund helps protect, transform and share the things from the past that people care about, from popular museums and historic places, our natural environment and fragile species, to the languages and cultural traditions that celebrate who we are.
The Heritage Fund is passionate about heritage and committed to driving innovation and collaboration to make a positive difference to people’s lives today, while leaving a lasting legacy for future generations to enjoy.
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