opinion Archives - Blackpool Social Club

11 Apr

Rubbish Seaside

Blackpool Social Club0 CommentsColumns & OpinionBlackpool, opinion

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] A little over a year ago, on the 29th of November 2019, the Guardian published a series of artworks entitled Rubbish Seaside. [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]It featured a satirical mock-up of an old fashioned railway poster advertising Blackpool. The artist had written: “ahead of us was a small army of scallies, all of whom had matching coldsores and were passing the time by gobbing on everyone below. It just seemed to sum the entire place up perfectly”.[/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image="32462" img_size="large" alignment="center"][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]My friend and fellow teacher Charlotte and I were incensed by what we saw as a lazy and puerile depiction of a place…

Heritage or Heresy?

Ruth Cockburn0 CommentsColumns & OpinionComedy, opinion

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] Ruth E. Cockburn looks at how comedy ages and asks - Should we be proud or embarrassed of our comedy history? The week that I wrote this, it was Bobby Ball’s funeral, a sad day. Myself and my fellow comedians clapped and shouted ‘Rock On Tommy’ as his coffin drove by, I felt a sense of pride that I work in such a supportive and loving profession. I was brought up watching reruns of the Wheeltappers and Shunters Club, The Comedians and sketches by Al Reed and Les Dawson. I loved these comics and others just like them as if they…

In Her Place: cycling on the promenade

Stephanie Cottle0 CommentsColumns & OpinionBlackpool, column, opinion, Place

Stephanie Cottle writes the first of her first bi-weekly columns that consider the forms, functions and possibilities of place. Prior to moving to the area, when I thought of Blackpool my mind would cast back to childhood visits. I’d imagine the muted colours of the Irish Sea, the screech of sea birds and the sharp, delicious taste of salt in the air (and on chips). I suspect these are images that occur to many, especially those who like myself, grew up elsewhere in the North West. For us children of the non-coastal north, the suggestion, ‘Shall we go to Blackpool?’…