The Bay

The Idle Skiers headed north yesterday to see family.

Tonight we are in Morecambe.  Earlier in the day, the town enjoyed a cloudless pale blue sky seen too rarely in this part of the country.  The view from the promenade over to the Lake District hills is always beautiful, but so often grey or obscured by rain.  This morning was almost perfect, although the tide was out and the Bay just wet sand.

We were told a few weeks ago about a television crime drama, The Bay, set in the town. Somehow, we have managed to miss entirely the two series which have been produced. Today though I was reminded about another drama set in Morecambe, The Entertainer, a 1960 film about a fading music hall comedian.  It has all the angst required of British films made in the late 1950s and early 1960s, but for those of who lived in the town then or in the following decade, it is a picture postcard of the final glory days of this resort. The theatre used for the stage scenes is the Alhambra,  a magnificent building in the true seaside tradition.  Scenes are located also in the Art Deco tea rooms near the Clock Tower and the old Avery, the pre-cursor to the long closed Winged World.

The holiday makers who came to the town then, or their children and grandchildren, now travel to the Mediterranean for their summer holiday.  Many of the old landmarks have gone and the town looks for a new role for the future.