As a kid in the 50s and 60s my treat was always the Kursaal or Battersea Park funfair in London. Great memories and feeling emotional just talking about it.
Southend seafront and its pier is a disgrace. There should be a plaque somewhere showing all the councellors and Mayors names who have stuffed up the place.What used to be the Kursal is now a housing estate which even the police wont go in unless there are two or more. Private eneterprise offered to make something of the pier but sucessive councils have knocked them back over the years. Most of the culprits are dead but look at the legacy they have left behind. Shame on u Southend Council
A real Deja Vu half hour loved it all, spent most Saturday nights at the Kursaal with friends, I remember waiting at the top looking over to see who would be arriving that night, fixing a date for the following week, learning to Jive! sharing a Babycham with the girls, flirting with the boys, meeting my future husband there, the place where my parents met also.
One of my favourite rides was, "The Bowl Slide" - next to, "The Water Chute" as I recall. It was brilliant. - Like a Helter-Skelter but built inside the structure. It had a beautiful giant wooden bowl - like a fruitbowl - at the bottom of the helical slide. To get up to the top, there was an electric inclinator system so you grabbed your mat & sat on little yellow platforms on a chain-drive & it carried you up.
All those single decker buses lined up along the front with the drivers touting for business with the offer of a mystery tour, or the boatmen offering a boat trip "last trip before the tide"
I WAS STATIONED IN SHOEBURYNESS-1952-1954BRILLIANT MEMORIES OF THE KURSALL.THANK YOU SO MUCH.
As a kid in the 50s and 60s my treat was always the Kursaal or Battersea Park funfair in London. Great memories and feeling emotional just talking about it.
Thank you for this incredible footage. I particularly loved the singing by Jack and Chris at the beginning. Bravo! And RIP Jack.
Ahh, memories of my time there in the 60s. Thanks.
My home town Would love to go back
Southend seafront and its pier is a disgrace. There should be a plaque somewhere showing all the councellors and Mayors names who have stuffed up the place.What used to be the Kursal is now a housing estate which even the police wont go in unless there are two or more. Private eneterprise offered to make something of the pier but sucessive councils have knocked them back over the years. Most of the culprits are dead but look at the legacy they have left behind. Shame on u Southend Council
Great old footage it brings back great memories...many thanks...
A real Deja Vu half hour loved it all, spent most Saturday nights at the Kursaal with friends, I remember waiting at the top looking over to see who would be arriving that night, fixing a date for the following week, learning to Jive! sharing a Babycham with the girls, flirting with the boys, meeting my future husband there, the place where my parents met also.
One of my favourite rides was, "The Bowl Slide" - next to, "The Water Chute" as I recall. It was brilliant. - Like a Helter-Skelter but built inside the structure. It had a beautiful giant wooden bowl - like a fruitbowl - at the bottom of the helical slide. To get up to the top, there was an electric inclinator system so you grabbed your mat & sat on little yellow platforms on a chain-drive & it carried you up.
My grandparents met in the Kursaal ballroom in the late 40s :)
Thank you for loading this, it is great !
Thanks for this, brilliant stuff !
Thanks this helped me on my history homework :)
Even fifty years later (when this was uploaded) the two cannival queens are stiil very attractive ladies.
All those single decker buses lined up along the front with the drivers touting for business with the offer of a mystery tour, or the boatmen offering a boat trip "last trip before the tide"
Be nice if we could get copies of this
Ahh the old green and cream pier trains, quite handsome they were too.
shame the council decided to build a housing estate over the majority of it. bloody southend grrrrr
60s to 70s, my time in Southend, Pier bar run by "mum" :) PLUS, the Royal Daffodil
I caught Impetigo when I fell into the water at the Tunnel of Love
@andy7666 The pirate ship is long gone and so is everything I remember from my childhood going up there. It's a dump now. It's all gone.
today Kursaal in everyone mind mean scumbag area , we really fuck it up .....
Too true, a lost opportunity!
I believe it's an old German word for public hall.
Wow ... What fxxk happened ..
Now look at it my god Iv lived here all my life and this is the worst it’s ever been now it’s the dumping ground for every bit of scum possible
The real Enemy wasnt across the water----it was within, when the MEN were away the scheeming mice did play!!!!