New Tourist Information Point at Poulton Train Station

A new Tourist Information Point has been installed at Poulton Railway Station on Breck Road to provide visitors with key information about Wyre.

The information point, funded by Wyre Council, is located in the ticket office and includes a large descriptive map of the area and an information board. Visitors and locals alike can pick up free guides to visitor attractions, places to stay and events in Wyre. The ticket office has also been redecorated and new flooring installed to give it a fresh new feel.

Councillor Lynne Bowen, Cabinet member with responsibility for tourism at Wyre Council said “Poulton Station is a key visitor gateway to Wyre and the only railway station in the borough. It is hoped that this additional information service will encourage people to stay and increase spending in Poulton and across the area. Friends and family of local residents will also benefit from up-to-date information on things to see and do and places to eat.”

The request for the information point originally came from Friends of Poulton Station, a local voluntary group responsible for the design and maintenance of the plant and flower displays at the station. Carol Woolley from the group said “We would like to thank Wyre Council and Northern Rail who have worked together to provide this fantastic facility. Poulton Station really is a station that the community can be proud of.”

Wyre celebrates success at Tourism Awards!

The annual Lancashire & Blackpool Tourism Awards 2011/12 took place on the evening of 22 September at the glittering Paradise Room at Blackpool Pleasure Beach where the best tourism and hospitality businesses contended for 16 categories. Blackpool born Jody Prenger, star of BBC 1′s “I’d do Anything” and Cameron Mackintosh’s revival production of “Oliver!” was the host for the spectacular occasion. Wyre’s businesses and Wyre Tourism Association members shone during the event which saw wins for Caravan Holiday Park of the Year (Sunset Park) and Small Visitor Attraction of the Year (Old Holly Farm). I was so very proud of the Wyre winners and shortlisted Wyre finalists too!

I am especially proud of a project very close to my own heart – The Visit Garstang Centre which was shortlisted with 3 other very worthy contenders for the Visitor Information Provider Award. I’m very pleased to say that we WON and took home a beautiful glass engraved trophy and certificate I was so very proud of our achievement and my wonderful staff who made it all possible. Here’s to the National Awards which we will do our utmost to be shortlisted for which will take place in May 2012, possibly in London.

Alexandra – Visit Wyre team at Wyre Council

Art Exhibition – Like a Phoenix Rising from the Ashes

Art exhibition by Ann Charlesworth is being staged at Marsh Mill in Wyre. This series of work takes a step backwards from my previous exhibition which was shown here at the Kiln House Gallery. It includes selected pieces from my second year degree work at Blackpool and Fylde College and is the origin of what was to follow.

The work is based on Yates’ Wine Lodge when the building was in a state of demolition after its arson attack. I recorded its destruction, not just from the bulldozers and workmen but from the elements as it slowly began crumbling and falling into oblivion. This also lead to the study of the Grand Hotel on Station Road, South Shore, when that too was dealt the same fate. I am fascinated by the mixing of different media and materials and aim to capture an overall ambience of the process involved in the destroying of monumental buildings and their historical and social presence. Transience and ephemerality are also key themes that I explore through my work.

Do come along and view the exhibition. It’s on from 24 September until 30 October between 10.30am and 4.30pm every weekend.

Ann Charlesworth.

The start of Autumn at Cleveleys

You can feel the autumn starting to march towards us, and as the last day of August comes and goes, the Starlings are singing their end of summer song and the evenings are getting shorter at Cleveleys – although we get away with extra daylight being on the West coast, and long sunsets as the day disappears over the horizon.

The relentless onset of Christmas is starting to happen with some shops already starting to get cards and tinsel in, but before the winter does descend we’ve still got plenty of nice things to look forward to at the seaside, and hopefully some warm days and walks on the beach without wellies and coats! 

In between the rain we’ve had some lovely days and last week we were treated to the sight of a seal bobbing up and down just off shore. In the past they’ve had a rest on land, but this one was just having a swim and a sunbathe and enjoying the view of people sitting on the beach and fishing! A lot of work goes into keeping the seas and shore clean, from both the community and local authority, and the quantity of wildlife that we get in the seas and on the beach has risen dramatically over the years. The top reaches of shingle beach at the northern end of Cleveleys promenade are dry all year round, and this year we’ve even got a quite rare yellow horned poppy growing and flowering among the native wild plants.

The Rossall Beach Group have won Lottery funding to produce a range of interpretation signs to highlight the wildlife in the area, and are currently researching what is to go on them. DONG Energy, who famously installed the electricity cable earlier in the year for the new Walney Offshore Windfarm, have kindly contributed to the project, so other boards will explain about the views over the sea and what you can see in the distance. 

I’m Jane and my business is a member of Wyre Tourism Association.
You can find out much more about Cleveleys from my website www.visitCleveleys.co.uk