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This
Page is an Archive of all news items featured on the Joyland Books News
Page between 1 January and 30 June 2007.
For the latest news, click here.
Southport Wild
Mouse comes down [23/6/07]
The Save Dreamland Campaign is
reporting that dismantling work on the King Solomon's Mines
roller coaster (formerly the Wild Mouse at Morecambe
Pleasure Park) is progressing ahead of schedule, with about
50% of the ride now down. Rides such as the Caterpillar and
Ghost Train have been completely dismantled and moved off
site. The Campaign website now features a Photo Gallery
showing the
rides being dismantled and another Photo Gallery
showing the
current state of the park.
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Killarney Springs
Family Park in receivership [19/6/07]
The Killarney Springs Family
Park in Bude, Cornwall, has closed with immediate effect
after going into receivership.
Set in 66 acres of countryside, Killarney Springs was
recently acquired by showman Nicholas Wilson, who installed
rides such as a roller coaster, log flume and travelling
fairground rides, including a waltzer, dodgems and twist.
Enforcement action was taken by North Cornwall District
Council against the roller coaster and log flume in 2006 and
a retrospective planning application for the rides was
refused in February 2007.
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Killarney Springs Family Park: The
latest in a long line of fun park closures. |
Save Metroland!
[19/6/07]
A new campaign has been set up
to try and save the MetroLand indoor theme park at
Gateshead's Metro Centre.
The Campaign to 'Save MetroLand' was set up by the staff of
the theme park after
they were told the news of the proposed plans by the park's
owners, Capital Shopping Centres, to close it and open a
multiplex cinema. The website seeks supporters to assist in
the fight to make sure that MetroLand remains part of the
region for many more years to come.
www.savemetroland.com
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A postcard from the
Alton Towers of West Yorkshire [19/6/07]
A brand new release on the
history of a much-loved Yorkshire pleasure ground is now
available.
Sunny Vale
Pleasure Gardens: A Postcard from Sunny Bunces by
Chris Helme tells the story of what has been described as
"the Belle Vue or Alton Towers of West Yorkshire". Sunny
Vale Pleasure Gardens near Brighouse opened in 1880, but
became a fully fledged amusement park in 1883 when amusement
rides were added. For more than seventy years, day trippers
from around the north of England enjoyed its boating lakes,
train and fairground rides, fireworks, helter skelter and
beautiful gardens. And find out about rides such as The
Glacier, The Aerial Glider and The Flyer, which were
completely unique to Sunny Vale.
Click here
for more details or to buy your own copy of this book.
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Dreamland Campaign
rescues historic Southport rides [14/6/07]
The Save Dreamland Campaign
has begun dismantling the remaining vintage rides at
Southport's defunct Pleasureland Amusement Park. The rides
will form part of the Heritage Amusement Park planned for
Dreamland. Ride dismantling started on Wednesday 6 June and
will continue until the end of the month with a nine-strong
team of experienced engineers. The rides being removed and
placed in storage by the Campaign include the King Solomon's
Mines/Wild Mouse roller coaster (pictured right),
Caterpillar, Mistral Flying Machine/Flying Scooters and
River Caves.
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Above: Dismantling commences on the
Wild Mouse yesterday. (Click on the image for a larger version)
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Campaign Leader Nick Laister made the following statement:
"Southport's Pleasureland is one of only a handful of seaside
amusement parks in this country that still have original vintage
amusement park rides. Rides such as the River Caves and Caterpillar
date back to the 1920s. Sadly the park closed last year and the
rides were due to be bulldozed this month to make way for a new
temporary fairground operator. We have been in discussions with
Blackpool Pleasure Beach and Pleasureland's new owners, Sefton
Council, since April with a view to removing all the original rides
to allow them to be placed in storage for use in the proposed
Heritage Amusement Park. Thankfully these discussions have resulted
in the rides being 'donated' to the Dreamland project".
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The Save Dreamland Campaign launched
its proposals for a Heritage Amusement Park, based around the listed
Scenic Railway, in May 2007. The Heritage Amusement Park, which
would be a world's first, will include some of the remaining
examples of Britain's amusement park heritage in a high quality
park-like environment around the Scenic Railway. The listed Cinema
building would also be brought back into use with rides, shows,
bars, restaurants and an amusement park/seaside heritage museum. |
Above: The site of the former
Mistral Flying Machine and Caterpillar, now in storage. (Click on
the image for a larger version) |
The Save Dreamland Campaign has set up
The Dreamland Trust, which will play a key role in delivering the
Heritage Amusement Park project. Nick, who is Chairman of The
Dreamland Trust, adds: "We believe that this is the best option to
secure the future of the Grade 2 listed Scenic Railway and for the
distinguished history of the park to be recognised. It is also no
exaggeration to say that within the next 12 months most of the
country's amusement park heritage outside of Blackpool and Great
Yarmouth will be lost. It is therefore an ideal way of safeguarding
and preserving the UK's amusement park heritage at this critical
time. The Dreamland
project could not have been better timed and will undoubtedly play a
pivotal role in the regeneration of Margate."
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Other Pleasureland rides being dismantled and moved
into storage in the south of England include the Ghost Train (cars, track and
electrics), Sandstorm (formerly the Astro Swirl at Blackpool
Pleasure Beach), Cableway, Haunted Swing and the remaining machines
from the Fun House. Laister is currently in discussions with a
number of other parks about moving threatened vintage rides.
Click here
for more details of the Heritage Amusement Park and
here for the latest news on
the project, updated regularly.
Photographs courtesy of Richard Ryan |
Above: The Ghost Train building
being bulldozed; the cars and track have been moved to Margate.
(Click on the image for a larger version) |
A dazzling trip
back to another time [13/6/07]
Narrated by Gene Wilder
("Young Frankenstein", "Blazing Saddles" and "Willy Wonka
and the Chocolate Factory"),
EXPO - Magic
of the White City brings the Chicago World's Fair to
life. Experience the world of 1893 through a cinematic visit
to Chicago's Columbian Exposition. See fairgoers enjoying
the popular and commercially successful Midway Plaisance
where the festive atmosphere of this one-mile entertainment
center offers an array of guilty pleasures. Dubbed the
'White City', it inspires future innovators like Henry Ford
and Frank Lloyd Wright, debuts the Ferris Wheel and Cracker
Jack, and, in many ways, marks the beginning of the 20th
century. Filmed in High-Definition,
EXPO - Magic
of the White City immerses viewers in one of the
world's biggest extravaganzas and one of the most
unforgettable events in American history.
Click here
for more details.
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Stay of execution for
Pleasureland [3/6/07]
Temporary rides will return to
Southport's former
Pleasureland
amusement park while the long-term future of the site is
decided. A short-term lease for the 25-acre park has been
agreed with leisure operator Dreamstorm until the end of the
2008 season. This will see a number of British and European
travelling funfair rides moving to the site on a temporary
basis, similar to the way Margate's
Dreamland has been
operated since its closure at the end of the 2002 season.
The future of the remaining original rides will be announced
shortly.
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Merlin reveals
expansion plans [3/6/07]
Merlin Entertainments has
announced the completion of its £2bn acquisition of Tussauds
and, according to reports in the Times, plans to spend more
than £68m each year on a three-year expansion programme.
Merlin is also considering a potential stock exchange float.
Most of the theme parks (including Alton Towers, Gardaland
and Heide Park) will be operated by a new Resort Theme Parks
division. Legoland parks will have their own separate
division.
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Camelot prepares for
Knightmare opening [3/6/07]
Knightmare, the new roller
coaster at
Camelot Theme Park, opens on 23 June 2007. At £3m,
this represents the largest investment yet by Prime Resorts
Ltd, owners of the park. The mile-long roller coaster
reaches speeds of over 40mph and lasts for just under 2
minutes. The German-built roller coaster has been moved to
Camelot from Kobe in Japan, and is highly rated by roller
coaster enthusiasts.
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M&D's theme park near Glasgow,
Scotland, has also added a new roller coaster to its 2007 line-up,
the Runaway Mine Train. This ride is a conversion from the park's
Jamming spinning coaster, built by Barbisan in 1989. New roller
coasters are also opening at Adventure Island (Southend),
Pleasurewood Hills (Lowestoft), Twinlakes (Melton Mowbray), Flamingo
Land (Malton) and Pleasure Beach Blackpool. |
Ride the Wall of Death
[27/5/07]
The Wall of Death in its various
forms has thrilled and entertained audiences since the 1920s.
Across the generations crowds have flocked to watch the
seemingly impossible as riders tackle the vertical face of the
Wall and compete with each other to perform ever more outrageous
stunts. Riding
the Wall of Death by Allan Ford and Nick Corble is the
first comprehensive world history of the Wall of Death and
explores its origins around the turn of the nineteenth century
and chronicles the Wall through its glory days before and after
the Second World War, its subsequent decline and more recent
revival. Along the way we discover the men and machines,
including the great Indian Scout motorbikes, how the Wall has
entered entertainment folklore and the innovations used to stand
out from the crowd, ranging from the spherical Globe of Death to
the use of cars and go-karts.
More...
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Harbour Park adds new
rides [27/5/07]
Harbour Park at Littlehampton has
invested £750,000 in new rides and attractions for the 2007
season. The 75-year-old park, formerly a Butlin's Amusement
Park, has added a new 7.5-metre high Log Flume ride, bucking the
trend of log flume demolitions (Adventure Island and Pleasure
Beach Blackpool both removed their log flumes at the end of the
2006 season). The park has
also added a unique Crazy Bike ride (pictured to the right),
believed to be the first of its kind in the UK. Other rides and
attractions for the family include the Hic-Cup, Waltzer,
Dodgems, Prize Bingo and prize games. Harbour Park also features
an adventure golf, a panning for gold attraction, ice skating
rink and haunted walk-through.
Click here
for links to the websites of other amusement and theme parks
throughout the UK.
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American seaside
town in new book [27/5/07]
Forty miles south of Atlantic
City, just below the Mason Dixon line, lies Cape May, New
Jersey. In his illustrated celebration of the birth, demise and
resurrection of the America's oldest seaside resort,
The Summer City By
The Sea, Emil Salvini leads the reader through the
Cape's two hundred tumultuous years, which have forever earned
it the moniker Queen of the Seaside Resorts. During its ironic
beginning as a coastal getaway not for New Jerseyans but for
Philadelphians, middle-class families would weather the arduous
two-day journey to the site then known as Cape Island.
More...
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New amusement park opens
in Scarborough [26/5/07]
A new, albeit temporary, amusement
park opens in Scarborough this weekend on the site of the former
Atlantis water park. Atlantis Family Amusement Park will feature
a range of family rides and stalls including a family roller
coaster, dodgems, waltzer and superbob. The Atlantis water park
site forms part of The Sands development, which includes
residential apartments, casino, hotel and cinema on the site of
the North Bay Leisure Parks - the current amusement park is a
temporary measure until this part of the site is redeveloped. The
Sands development site also includes the now derelict Marvels Amusement Park site and Kinderland (which
currently remains open). Atlantis Family Amusement Park is open
from 26 May to the end of September and costs 50p to enter.
Click here
for more details.
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King and queen of the
amusement park [12/5/07]
The king of the amusement park is
the mighty roller coaster, and now you can read a guide to the
roller coasters of the United States and Canada.
Roller Coasters
by Todd H Throgmorton includes a listing of amusement and theme
parks as well as numerous photographs of the rides, coaster
history, information on the great coaster designers and other
fun facts.If the roller
coaster is king of the amusement park, then the ferris wheel is
undoubtedly the queen.
Ferris Wheels: An Illustrated History by Norman Anderson
is a huge book with more than 400 pages of history, photographs
and even drawings and designs of these rides which have become a
universal symbol of the amusement industry.
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Grove Land Leisure Park
to become holiday park [12/5/07]
Carmarthenshire County Council has
resolved to grant planning permission for the redevelopment of
the Grove Land Leisure Park, St Clears. The park, which opened
in 1994, featured a number of rides and attractions over the
years, including the Tornado roller coaster (pictured, right).
The park closed at the end of the 2005 season and will now be
redeveloped into a holiday park with 110 timber lodges and 30
new build cottages.
Click here for the full planning report on the council
website.
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More circus books added
[12/5/07]
The Joyland Books
Circus Books department is
becoming one of our biggest, and is certainly our fastest
growing. We have now added three new titles, all of which take a
detailed and scholarly look at various aspects of this
fascinating form of entertainment.
Two
Hundred Years of the American Circus by Tom Ogden is a
large encyclopaedia on the subject.
The New American
Circus by Ernest Albrecht is an authoritative study for
the armchair reader and circus fan.
Ringling: The
Florida Years by David Weeks is a study of circus giant
John Ringling.
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Heritage amusement
park plan for Dreamland launched [11/5/07]
The
Save Dreamland Campaign
has launched plans for the world's first heritage amusement park
at the famous Margate fun park. The new attraction would include
examples of Britain's 'at risk' amusement park rides, rescued
from closing parks. The plans are the culmination of several
month's work, in consultation with Thanet District Council and
the Margate Renewal Partnership. The Campaign is currently
discussing the plans with the owners of the site, Margate Town
Centre Regeneration Company.
Full
report here.
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In other amusement park news, the
campaign to save a vintage carousel and a Log Flume ride at Crealy
Great Adventure Park in Devon is hotting up, with over 700 people
having written to the local council. East Devon District Council has
served an enforcement notice on the park for the removal of the
rides.
More here. |
More secondhand books
added [29/4/07]
Pioneering circus
book wins rave reviews [28/4/07]
Described by the American
Historical Review as "well-produced" and "nicely illustrated",
The Circus
and Victorian Society by Brenda Assael looks at the
large performing circus in Victorian Britain. With its roots in
the eighteenth century, the circus reached its pinnacle toward
the end of the Victorian era when there were, by one count, 74
circuses throughout the country. Some of these could regularly
draw bigger audiences than music hall, although there was a wide
spectrum of quality. Many circuses were very local, itinerant,
and ephemeral; others, like the best-known purveyor of tableau
and spectacle, Astley's, were large, long-lived institutions
where a few star performers could earn the kind of money that
suggested professional respectability. This is the definitive
work on Victorian circus. Click
here
for more details or here
to see our full selection of circus books.
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Crealy launches 'Save
the Rides' campaign [25/4/07]
Devon's Crealy Great Adventure
Park has launched a campaign to save two of its most popular
rides. East Devon District Council has decided that the Tidal
Wave Log Flume (pictured, right) and Victorian Carousel need
planning permission because the part of Crealy in which they
stand is not an amusement park. If planning permission is
refused, the rides - which were installed in 2003 - may have to
be removed. The Council has also launched enforcement action.
There is a
full report here. More:
www.crealy.co.uk/savetherides
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Infusion press launch in London [21/4/07]
Pleasure Beach Blackpool's new £8m
roller coaster, Infusion, was given a movie-style launch in
London on Thursday. The press were treated to a special preview
film of the ride at The Savoy Hotel. The suspended looping
coaster - relocated from the Company's defunct Southport
Pleasureland
park - replaces the park's Log Flume and is billed as the first
roller coaster to be built entirely over water.
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Dickens theme park opens next month
[21/4/07]
A Charles Dickens theme park opens
next month in the Chatham Maritime Estate in Kent. Rides and
attractions at the £62m Dickens World include a Victorian Music
Hall, The Old Curiosity Shop, reproductions of period London street
scenes, one major dark ride (the Great Expectations boat ride) and
nine other attractions, such as Crime & Punishment, The School House
and The Haunted House of Ebenezer Scrooge. The theme park is the
brainchild of deceased theme park designer, Gerry O'Sullivan-Beare,
and is expected to attract 300,000 visitors per year.
Sefton Council buys
Pleasureland [5/4/07]
Sefton Council and Pleasureland
Ltd agreed terms yesterday for the council to buy back the
remainder of the lease on the Southport seafront site. The 25
acre amusement park has been vacant since Pleasureland closed
its gates in September 2006. The Council is looking into
short-term uses for the site whilst its long-term future is
decided. For more on the history of Pleasureland, buy
Pleasureland
Memories by Stephen Copnall, the full story of this
much-loved visitor attraction.
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Runaway Coaster
demolished [5/4/07]
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The Runaway Coaster (right,
click on image for larger version) at the former Rotunda Amusement
Park, Folkestone, was demolished today. Built in 1922, it was a
side-friction figure eight coaster, of the type that was popular
(and relatively common) in the UK before the Second World War.
This was a truly fabulous vintage ride and was very similar to the
figure eight coasters that were located at seaside resorts up and
down the country, none of which now survive. The
Save Dreamland Campaign
made an eleventh-hour attempt to save it, but were unsuccessful.
Full story
here. |
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A very big story comes
to Joyland [1/4/07]
Now this is a big story - a very big
story. Start with one enormous elephant. Add a larger-than-life
carnival huckster, and put them together in one tremendous circus.
Toss in a gigantic capacity for showmanship, and what could be
bigger? Nothing - because nothing was ever as big as Jumbo the
elephant.
That's what P.T. Barnum said when he purchased the prize pachyderm
from the London Zoo and took him to America. Newspapers called Jumbo
everything from 'prodigious mountain' to 'behemoth of holy writ.'
Elephant Story by Les
Harding traces Jumbo's life from his capture in East Africa. It is
the story of how one man and one animal came together in a big way
to shape popular culture.
More details...
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Doctor Who to switch
on Blackpool Illuminations [31/3/07]
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Doctor Who star David Tennant will be
switching on the famous Blackpool Illuminations on 31 August 2007.
The actor, who took over the role of 'The Doctor' from Christopher
Eccleston in 2005, will flick the switch as part of a free concert
on Blackpool's golden mile. Doctor Who, which returns to BBC1 this
evening at 7pm, will also be featured in a brand new illuminated display,
details of which will be announced by Illuminations bosses soon.
Tennant joins an illustrious list of
stars to have launched the lights including the fourth Doctor, Tom
Baker, who illuminated the town as Doctor Who back in 1975. Find out
more about the stars who switched on the lights and the history of
this world-famous event in the book
From Lamp to Laser,
available from Joyland Books. |
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Building up vintage
rides on DVD [17/3/07]
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From Dave Homer video is a new series
of vintage fairground rides being built up at the new Fairground
Heritage Centre (Dingles, Devon). Heading up the list of new titles
is Building up the Rodeo
Switchback. Quite probably the oldest surviving fairground
ride in the UK and certainly in the ownership of the Fairground
Heritage Trust, the Rodeo Switchback is the only spinning top
example to survive, and is believed to have been originally built in
1880 for James Pettigrove. The Trust acquired the machine in 1993
and in September 2006 it was built up by volunteers over three days
at Dingles. This DVD also
includes archive footage from 1983, and trial running of the ride in
2006. Also available are similar DVDs of the
Supersonic Skid, the
Joy Car Dodgems and
the Super Chariot Racer. |
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Circus history and
culture explored: new to Joyland [17/3/07]
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Circus enthusiasts will need to cancel
the next few weekends, as three new books on circus history and
culture are added to Joyland's ever-expanding
Circus Bookshop.
Ringlingville USA
is the stupendous story of seven siblings and their stunning circus
success. This history of the
Ringling Circus, the first in more than 50 years, recounts the hard
work, business savvy, and entrepreneurship of the Ringling Brothers
as they created the largest, most famous circus in the world. This
is an extensively illustrated history with many never before
published photographs. Also added are
The Circus Age, a book
about culture and society under the American big top and
The Pickle Clowns, a
collective history of the famous clowns, recorded in their own
words. Click here for more
circus books. |
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Theme park music CD
available again - limited time [17/3/07]
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In association with composer Ian
Habgood, we bring you (for a limited time only) the original CD of
theme park music, Themed
Music. Featuring the music of Alton Towers, Thorpe Park and
Chessington World of Adventures, this CD is produced by the composer
of the original theme park music and features the original tracks
you can hear at Britain's biggest theme parks. This title is now
officially deleted, but by special arrangement with Ian Habgood, we
have made this item available again. Supplies are low and we cannot
guarantee at this stage that we can secure additional stock when
this batch is sold. More
details... |
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New worlds of entertainment at Joyland
[17/3/07]
Dark rides book out now
[3/3/07]
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A classic book on the history of dark
rides at amusement parks has been re-released in a completely updated
format and is now available in the United Kingdom for the first
time exclusively from Joyland Books.
Scary Dark Rides by
Doug Higley is not a list of rides or a collection of dry
statistics, it is the 'soul' of what these rides are all about from
their portable beginnings in carnivals to today's big theme parks.
It is about the chemistry of what we do when we choose to get scared
for fun. This is the little book that first turned the lights on!
With side trips to Disneyland, Coney Island sideshows, the live
spook shows that were all the rage in theatres of the 1940s and
1950s and even old drive-in horror movies, it's a very personal tour
with an insider perspective, from a keen observer of what
entertainment in the dark is really all about.
More... |
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Multi-million pound
investment for Fantasy Island [2/3/07]
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The new owners of Fantasy Island Theme
Park, at Ingoldmells near Skegness, have announced a programme of
development worth hundreds of millions of pounds for the resort.
Conduit Leisure, which bought the attraction from John Woodward's
Blue Anchor Leisure last year, plans a 4,000-6,000 seat arena, ice
rink, outdoor music venue to hold up to 12,000 people, a small
casino/hotel on the car park, introduction of branded caterers in
the pyramid, expansion of the market, development of new holiday
apartments, new retail development and the retention and development
of the Fantasy Island rides.
Company chairman Laurence Davis told the Skegness Standard that the
first planning application is likely to be submitted to East Lindsey
District Council in June 2007. Senior officers and councillors at
the Council and Lincolnshire County Council have already publicly
praised Conduit's vision. The first event will be a free firework
display on 7 April, billed as "probably the biggest firework display
which the coast has ever seen". |
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Joyland's Secondhand
Shop grows [12/2/07]
Rotunda amusement
park auction [3/2/07]
|
The remaining contents of Folkestone's
Rotunda Amusement Park are to be auctioned at the park on Monday 12
February 2007 at 11am. Contents include
approximately 200 amusement arcade machines, ex-Blackpool
illuminations lights and signs, kid's soft play area, illuminated
signs, round kiosks, waltzer cars and much more.
Rotunda closed for redevelopment in
2003 and most rides have now been removed. |
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Barry Island rides for
sale [28/1/07]
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All 20 rides at Barry Island Pleasure
Park in South Wales are being advertised for sale in this week's
World's Fair newspaper. The rides include Evolution, Roller Coaster,
Pirate Ship and Twister. The park is also advertising ground to let,
with the advert stating: "Whole park can be leased or pitch your
ride for the 2007 season". This is similar to the way Margate's
Dreamland has been operated over the past few years, with the park
being leased and rides being sold as the season progresses. As
reported a few weeks ago on Joyland Books, the future of the
Pleasure Park is uncertain following the collapse of its parent
company, Hypervalue. |
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How a fairground family
came to be [27/1/07]
|
The story of the Townsend fairground
family has been released and is now available from Joyland Books.
The granddaughter of the founder of Richard Townsend & Sons, Kay
Townsend, has written this fascinating story of her family's life on
the road. Townsends: A
Showman's Story tells of this well-known West Country show
family and how their life
evolved. It also includes details and images of their rides and
transport, including the collection of attractions they operated for
many years on Weymouth beach.
This book is only a small part of our
huge collection of fairground titles, both
new and
secondhand. You can also
join our
Forum and discuss fairgrounds, amusement parks and much
more. |
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Amusement Park Book
and DVD Released [27/1/07]
|
A new book and companion DVD have been
released both capturing memories of New Jersey's Palisades Amusement
Park. Vince Gargiulo's oversized coffee table book,
Palisades Amusement Park:
A Century of Fond Memories captures every fond memory of the
famous New Jersey fun spot: the vinegar-soaked french fries, the
Tunnel of Love, the world's largest outdoor salt water pool, and so
much more. The companion DVD, also called
Palisades Amusement Park: A
Century of Fond Memories, is a thrilling ride into the heart
of a classic American amusement park. And for those who just can't
get enough of all things Palisades, you can also buy Vince
Gargiulo's other title on the same subject,
Palisades
Amusement Park, published by Arcadia. |
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Guide to roller coaster
thrill parks [13/1/07]
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A brand new guide to North America's
greatest amusement parks and their roller coasters is now available
from Joyland Books as an exclusive import. Whether you have already
experienced dozens of theme parks or are just seeking out a travel
destination that the entire family can enjoy,
Tracking the Thrills: A
Guide to North America's Roller Coaster Thrill Parks by
Devin Olsen should be your guide.
The book provides a colourful
glance at the 50 largest American thrill parks. This book will guide
you to experience the best of the best, whilst knowing how to avoid
the less desirable along the way. The book includes honest and
balanced reviews of major roller coasters, water rides and
non-coaster thrill rides, along with other information to help you
take full advantage of each park.
More information. |
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American Adventure
closes [5/1/07]
|
The American Adventure Theme Park in
Derbyshire has closed. Park Director Roger Lloyd has announced that
the park will not reopen in 2007 and all its rides will be sold. The
park originally opened for a few months as Britannia Park in 1985,
and then reopened as the American Adventure in 1987 after Britannia
Park went into administration. Despite its success under the
ownership of Granada (1987-1997), it has performed less well under
its current owners, Venture World Ltd (a Trevor Hemmings company). |
The late 1980s logo of the American
Adventure, when the lease was owned by Granada Group. |
Happy New Year from all
at Joyland Books! [2/1/07]
|
Welcome to 2007, as Joyland Books
enters its seventh year of trading, bigger and better than ever
before. |
2006 was a fantastic year for Joyland Books - visitors to the
website in 2006 were up by 30% from the previous year. And it was an
even better year for our customers. Big DVD releases included
Parks and Rides 1,
This is the Life and
Ride It. Top books
included Roundabout
Relics, Drayton
Manor Memories,
Hancocks of the West,
Vintage
Fairground Transport,
Steam Yachts and
Tavistock Goose Fair.
But the major release of the year was the first ever book on the
history of amusement arcades,
Pennies by the Sea, based on the story of Bridlington's
Joyland Amusements. To celebrate our move into the world of arcades
and slot machines, we also made available a fantastic new magazine
on mail order,
Mechanical Memories. |
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But it was generally bad news in the amusement park world, with the
the closure of Southport's Pleasureland Amusement Park and the
demolition of the Cyclone wooden roller coaster being the biggest
blow. This came only a year after Skelter Publishing released
Pleasureland Memories,
the history of this major fun park.
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Also under threat are Barry Island
Pleasure Park, Rhyl's Ocean Beach, Gateshead's Metroland, Camelot
Theme Park and the American Adventure. But on the positive side, the
campaign to Save Margate's
Dreamland gathered pace and received significant publicity
with a Channel 4 documentary on the listed Scenic Railway roller
coaster. |
 |
|
And we were the first to announce the
arrival of a major new roller coaster for Adventure Island at
Southend. We also announced major new big wheels for Bridlington's
Bayside Fun Park and Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach and we followed
construction of the new fairground museum at Dingles in Devon.
We have loads of surprises up our
sleeves for 2007, with some fantastic new releases planned,
including a major new book on one of the world's biggest amusement
parks. The only clue we can give is that the park is in the UK. You
will have to read this News page to find out which park - we will
report it here first! |
Rare book heaven!
[2/1/07]
Ocean Beach plans submitted
[2/1/07]
|
A planning application has been
submitted by Manchester-based Modus Properties for the redevelopment
of Rhyl's historic Ocean Beach Fun Fair. The application, submitted
to Denbighshire County Council in December, is for 217 apartments,
an ASDA supermarket, hotel, shops, offices, cafes and restaurants.
The funfair will be completely demolished, ending more than a
century of amusement park history in this part of the town. The
planning application for the Ocean Plaza development will go though
a public consultation exercise before being decided by planners.
View and comment on the application online. |
To be demolished: The Water
Chute at Rhyl's Ocean Beach amusement park, the UK's last surviving
circular water chute and a major landmark in the town. |
Fairs, showman's engines and big rides [2/1/07]
|
The Bedfordshire Steam Preservation
Society celebrated its 50th Anniversary this year. At their annual
Steam and Country Fayre the new DVD,
Fair, Showman's Engines and
Organs at Old Warden 2006, features the old time fairground
in action, showman's engines in steam by day and night and a grand
selection of fairground organs playing. Also featured is vintage
showman's transport on show, held in the picturesque setting of Old
Warden Park. And don't miss
two fantastic new DVDs in the Amusement Rides series: Amusement
Rides 7 and
8. These
are the
latest in our fast-expanding range of fairground DVDs and videos. See more of
our fairground DVDs
here. |
 |
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