Local Life - Wigan - July 2019

24
Oh I Do Like To Be Beside
The Seaside
By Jess Phillips
For fourteen days - the first two full weeks of
July - shops and factories across town closed for
business, and the masses trooped to the seaside
for a fortnight away from work: Wakes Weeks. The
tradition in Wigan began as a single week before
being upped to two in the early 1970s, and though
it’s since petered out, the shores of Blackpool,
Southport and Rhyl will always conjure up good
memories for Wigan’s baby boomers.
Coaches would congregate on Market Square to
pick up their passengers, with neighbours often
travelling together to enjoy standard seaside fare.
From traditional donkey rides on the sand to penny
slots and bingo games, the seaside holiday was a
chance to relax and unwind from the everyday
stresses of mill and factory work. Many Wiganers
will remember the quintessentially British ‘Jugs of
Tea for the Sands’ sign – a surer reminder than the
Tower that you’d arrived in Blackpool! And it meant
what it said: you never had to be afraid of running
out of hot tea; you just had to fill your flasks to take
onto the beach with you.
If you were lucky, you might be heading off to
stay in one of the popular holiday camps at your
resort of choice. The ever-popular Pontins – whose
Blackpool site closed its doors for good in 2009 -
and Butlins - with sites in Skegness and Pwllheli in
Wales – attracted keen holidaymakers throughout
the last century, hosting the classically bizarre
‘knobbly knees’ and ‘bonny babies’ contests. Some
resorts even set up cardboard cut-outs of the slim,
much-coveted Marilyn Monroe figure to see if
women were slim enough to fit inside – more than
a bit risqué today.