Blackpool - a seaside town on the North-West coast of England on the Irish Sea. In summer of 2000 I visited this singular holiday resort to photograph. My imagination had been kindled when my sister Jackie said to me " you should go to Blackpool to photograph, you'd love it - it has a surreal atmosphere about it." I'm attracted to funfairs, they have a light, travelling gypsy feeling about them - gaudy, transient and nostalgic, reminisent of something from childhood.
So when I arrived I was intrigued by this holiday town which is a mixture of an old Victorian resort, a gigantic funfair and a mini Las Vegas.

Blackpool's tower and ballroom are famous in England; the town itself consists mainly of a long promenade with three piers. Its history as a seaside resort goes back to the late 18th century - its principal attraction was the sea, with sea bathing and drinking of seawater being a national craze at the time. A bell was rung when it was time for the ladies to bathe, and any gentleman found on the shore was fined a bottle of wine.
With the coming of the railways in the mid 19th century thousands of visitors from the working-class towns of Lancashire and Yorkshire could now reach the town with comparative ease.
But it wasn't until the mid-Victorian era that Blackpool really expanded and introduced forms of entertainment. The three piers were built, also extensive pleasure gardens boasting a lake, racecourse, football and cricket ground, skating rink, aviary, monkey house, switchback and many other attractions.
The tower and buildings which included a circus and ballroom opened in 1894. Blackpool Tower was copied from the Eiffel Tower in Paris and was originally going to be called the Blackpool Eiffel Tower. During the resort's illuminations, the Tower is lit by 10.000 bulbs which makes it the central attraction.
In the 1890s it was estimated that Blackpool's 7.000 dwellings could accommodate 250.000 holidaymakers as well as the permanent population of 35.000. In 1989 a national survey found tht 4.190.000 holidaymakers stayed in the resort, and 12.590.000 people came on day or evening trips.
At the turn of the 20th century the promenade between the North and South Piers was built at about the same time the foundations of the the fun park - Pleasure Beach - were laid in the sand dunes beyond South Shore, for many years the home of gypsies and fairground artists.
An electric street tramway opened in 1885 and ran the length of the promenade. At the turn of the 21st century these old double-decker trams still link the North Pier with the funfair at the South Pier which is dominated by Blackpool's famous big dipper.

A stroll down the length of the promenade leads you past amusement arcades, small B & B hotels and cafés where fish and chips and peas are the most popular dish. Tea and buns are sold at Victorian pavallions along the boulevard; parked on the wide sandy beaches are ice-cream vans and hot-dog vendors. People throng the promenade at a leisurely pace, families picnic on the sands, crowds savour the fast thrills of the funfair, and in the ornate dimlit Blackpool ballroom elderly couples dance the foxtrot at eleven in the morning.

At the same time as I was a part of the holiday atmosphere, enjoying and observing, I wanted to capture the mood and pinpoint the details on film.
This is a document in time and even as I write this, I have heard that the town may change quite a bit since new legislation in Britain into laxer gambling laws means that Las Vegas type casinos will make their mark on the town and possibly change its face once again.

Morag Minner