Blackpool, Lancashire - night, illuminations - Spanish postcard c.1970s

Postcard
• Picture / Image:  Blackpool, Lancashire - nocturnal view - shows the illuminations
• Publisher:  Fisa, Barcelona
• Postally used:  yes
• Stamp:  10p buff coloured Machin
• Postmark(s):  Chester [unclear c.1980]
• Sent to:  Basingstoke, Hants.
• Notes / condition: 

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Text from the free encyclopedia WIKIPEDIA may appear below to give a little background information (internal links may not  work) :

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Blackpool Illuminations is an annual Lights Festival, founded in 1879 and first switched on 19 September that year, held each autumn in the English seaside resort of Blackpool on the Fylde Coast in Lancashire.

Also known locally as The Lights or The Illuminations, they run each year for sixty-six days,^[1][2] from late August until early November at a time when most other English seaside resorts' seasons are coming to an end. Dubbed as ""the greatest free light show on earth"",^[3] they are 6 miles (10 km) long and use over one million bulbs. The display stretches along the Promenade from Starr Gate at the south end of the town to Bispham in the north.

In 2013 the Illuminations were meant to shine from 30 August to 3 November.^[4] However on 14 March 2013 it was announced that they had been extended by a week shining until 10 November making it the first time ever the Illuminations will shine for 73 days.^[5]

In 2014 the Illuminations will again shine for 73 days from 29 August to 9 November.^[6]

Most visitors drive through the Illuminations by car, coach or bus. There are also open top trams which run along the tramway as well as horse-drawn landau. At Bispham there is a special walkway for the tableaux which also includes mixed media in the various large tableaux displays.^[12] The Illuminations cost £1.9M each year to stage.^[2]

For the 2007 Illuminations, Interior designer and television personality Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen best known for his appearances on the BBC television programme, Changing Rooms was commissioned to create special feature on Central Promenade outside Blackpool Tower, named Decodance.^[12] Llewelyn-Bowen had stated that he fell in love with what he called ""Blackpool's high-kicking glamour and historical reputation for giddy glitz"" while filming for the Holiday programme.^[13]

The displays at the cliffs from North Shore to Bispham contain forty large tableaux holding more than 5,000 square metres in surface area. There is a pedestrian walkway running the length of the tableaux displays which are set back from the Promenade beyond the tramway. Blackpool Tramway runs along the entire length of the Illuminations and there are over one million lamps in the display.^[9] In 2007 the Egyptian tableau which includes Egyptian sarcophagus, which eerily opens to reveal a mummified secret, returned after an overhaul. Also at Bispham on the clifftop was a new BBC Portal video screen.^[14]

Also in 2007 a new Doctor Who display appeared with monsters from the last three series of the show. In January 2008, it was stated that this section had been the most successful feature ever built in the Illuminations.^[2] And at Gynn Square on Gynn Island, a Space Invasion with an opalescent mothership hovering more than 40 ft in the air, battling it out with eight spaceships arranged in formation defending their territory. The display which used colour-changing LEDs, was created from the popular alien craft which used to adorn the Promenade.^[14]

In October 2007, a laser beam installed on the tower for the duration of the annual Illuminations was criticised by Astronomer and presenter of The Sky at Night television programme, Patrick Moore who said, ""Light pollution is a huge problem. I am not saying we should turn all the lights out, that is not practical, but there are some things which are very unnecessary. The Blackpool Tower light is certainly something I do not think we should be doing. I very much oppose it."" The beam could be seen 30 miles away. Moore called for the beam to be stopped. The Centre for Astrophysics at the University of Central Lancashire in Preston said the laser has added to a spiraling problem affecting astronomy.^[15]

At the sixth annual Banquet and Ball on 9 January 2008, organised by the holiday trade umbrella group, Blackpool Combined Association, to raise funds for the Lights,^[16] the new Head of Illuminations, Michael Wilcock revealed new plans for the future of the Illuminations.^[2] These include,

• Plans to make the Lights, which at present are funded 80% by Blackpool Council, as self-sustaining as possible, with plans to increase business sponsorship.
• New, all year round, triumphal arches to be erected at either end of the Illuminations, ""selling the Blackpool message.""
• Extending the Doctor Who section for the 2008 season, ""with eye-catching battles between Daleks and the TARDIS.""
• Increased promotion for the 2008 Illuminations season.
• Establishment of a Friends of the Illuminations group.

type=printed

city/ region=blackpool

period=post-war (1945 - present)

postage condition=posted

number of items=single

size=continental/ modern (150x100mm)