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OCEAN BEACH MEMOIRS by Paul Beesley Gallery: Added August 2007 |
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When Paul Beesley, who runs the excellent
site
ridemad.com, sent themagiceye some photographs of Ocean Beach Amusement Park in Rhyl,
North Wales, the hardest decision was choosing which ones to use. The CD contained many outstanding and poignant images. In
a perfect world, themagiceye would liked to have showcased
them all but logistics dictate that this is
not possible.
Each of the images reproduced here on
these pages, which are taken from Paul's original high resolution photographs, tell their own story of a once great amusement park now
sadly in decline.
How long left for Ocean Beach?
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 Image: Paul Beesley |
We never normally spent any time in the
town centre at Rhyl; the area around
the fun fair had everything to keep us occupied. Sometimes we did have an occasional walk over the blue bridge into
Towyn for a change though. Looking back, however, I don’t recall much about the trips
into Towyn itself.
As a youngster I was too scared to enjoy the majority of the rides and even the more gentle ones were too much for me. I don’t think I rode the Ghost Train
until I was in my teens and from memory The Hurricane Jets were about as much as I could handle back then. It was probably these early visits to Rhyl that made me the enthusiast I am today. Fast forward a few years...
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 Image: Paul Beesley |
I'm 37 now with my own family and
we have come back to Rhyl for the second time this year (2006). We are standing in the same place that would have had me buzzing with excitement 30 years earlier. The car park around the back of the fair doesn’t seem to have changed much, apart from the obvious lack of cars and coaches that once filled the area.
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 Image: Paul Beesley |
I remember seeing rows upon rows of Crossville buses and coaches in the car park with everyone around them eagerly gathering
into their groups for the day and double checking the departure times with the drivers.
Then later on in the day the same people would be coming back to the buses and coaches with stuffed toys, sugar dummies, huge teddy bears, toffee apples and candy floss. These images only exist in my mind these days as the car park is now used for car boot sales on a Sunday morning. Today the signs around the place warn stall holders about selling "dodgy" DVDs or pirated videos.
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 Image: Paul Beesley |
It’s hard to imagine this car park could ever be filled these days. The area is deserted; the only movement is discarded shopping bags and crisp packets blowing in the wind. |
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 Image: Paul Beesley |
Looking over to Ocean Beach Fun Fair from the car park, the Water Chute still dominates the skyline. Its wooden/steel structure has certainly taken a battering since relocating to Rhyl from Southend in 1971. |
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 Image: Paul Beesley |
The Astroglide slide over to the right of where I'm stood still looks huge thanks to its elevated location 20 feet or so above the car park.park. |
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 Image: Paul Beesley |
We decided to walk around the perimeter of the fun fair
starting at the front and working back to the car park.
An 8ft high wire fence now covers the fairground perimeter with gaps wide enough just to get a small lens through. As you walk around the front of the fair you go past a few buildings in a bad state of disrepair with boards advertising the fact that the land has been bought for development by a local builder.
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 Image: Paul Beesley |
The area at the front of the fair is scattered with broken Bud bottles, smashed beer glasses, chip wrappers and dog dirt - it’s a disgrace! |
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