Gone fishing 21st - 24 June 2012
A City Safari walking tour of Fleetwood and Blackpool - 3 nights. Led by Peter Forsyth
Fleetwood, on the Fylde peninsula, was named after the then land owner Peter Hesketh-Fleetwood and was the first planned community of the Victorian era. It was designed to be both a port and a bespoke seaside resort, which could cater to the trade and leisure needs of Lancashire’s rapidly developing industrial towns.
Before rail links were established to Scotland, it was envisaged that Fleetwood would be the transfer point between the rail network and steamers going north. The architect, Decimus Burton, designed a half-wheel street layout with the residential streets as the spokes, and the main commerce area forming the rim. The crown jewel of the design was the North Euston Hotel where we will be staying

The establishment of cross-border railways soon scuppered the plan but a period of rapid expansion of deep-sea fishing, signalled by the launch in 1891 of the first steam powered trawler, the Lark, led to the defining industry by which the town is most often remembered.

Our walk will take in the remaining buildings of Burton's design and lead us to the oldest of these, now a museum. At the museum we will have a conducted tour by an ex-trawlerman who will explain the rise and fall of the fishing industry in Fleetwood. This will include an exclusive viewing of the trawler Harriet, currently undergoing restoration, which was the last sailing trawler to operate from Fleetwood.

We will also be able to see the trawler Jacinta. Launched in 1972, on the 10th June 1975, the Jacinta made history when she came home with 3008 kits from Iceland - the largest ever landing by a Fleetwood-based trawler.		 Pharos Lighthouse Fleetwood
Pharos Lighthouse Fleetwood
Blackpool North Pier
Blackpool North Pier		 On Saturday we will take the tram to Blackpool. Blackpool tramway is the only surviving first-generation tramway in the UK and, dating from 1885, it is also one of the oldest electric tramways in the world.

We will be touring Blackpool Tower, The Winter Gardens as well as walking the famous piers.

Together these iconic structures should give the group an idea of how Blackpool developed its tourist capabilities in direct response to the rise of industry and the holidaying patterns of working folk in the mills of East Lancashire.

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