Skegness

From Open Encyclopedia

Skegness is a seaside resort town in Lincolnshire, England, with a permanent population of about 30,000. It is administered by East Lindsey District Council.

1 History
2 Skegness today
- 2.1 Local politics
3 Education
4 Media
5 External links

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History

Skegness was primarily a fishing village and small port until the arrival of the railway in 1875. The Earl of Scarbrough planned the town as a resort from 1877 and it expanded rapidly, but along with many other UK resorts, especially those on the cold North Sea, it lost out to the cheap package holiday boom after World War II. Skegness was the site of the UK's first Holiday Camp, started by Billy Butlin in 1936. Butlins is still there today, outside the town on the road to the nearby village of Ingoldmells.

Skegness had a 1843 foot (562 metre) long pier which was opened on Whit Monday 1881, at that time it was the fourth longest in England. Steam boat trips ran from the pier to The Wash and Hunstanton in Norfolk from 1882 until 1910. In 1978 the pier was badly damaged and considerably shortened by severe gales. The pier has since undergone major refurbishment and is now once again a thriving tourist attraction, although it no longer extends far beyond the high water level of the beach.

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Skegness today

In March 2005 Skegness took the top spot in a survey by Yours magazine, looking at the best retirement places in the UK. Yours researchers visited sixty likely towns, and factors involved in judging included house prices, hospital waiting lists, the crime rate, council tax rates, activities and attractions, weather patterns and ease of transport. It has also been described by Lonely Planet's Great Britain guide as "everything you could want" in a seaside resort.

Today the town's tourist industry mainly caters for working-class holiday-makers and day-trippers from Leicester, Lincoln, Nottingham and other areas of the East Midlands. Skegness has been dubbed 'the Blackpool of the East Coast', and has a famous mascot, the Jolly Fisherman, and a slogan - 'Skegness is so bracing', a reference to the chilly prevailing northeasterly winds that can and frequently do blow off the North Sea. The town is popularly known as "Skeggie". Further up the coast are the other holiday resorts of Mablethorpe, Ingoldmells and Chapel St Leonards. Fine beaches link the coastal towns, and there are many large caravan parks in the surrounding countryside. One caravan park a short distance to the north of the town has its own airfield, with a 755 metre grass runway. Visiting pilots can call the airfield on 132.425MHz, although PPR (Prior Permission Required) is stated for landing. A number of years ago, pleasure flights used to operate from the aerodrome. The town is served by Skegness railway station, which is the terminus for a line from Boston.

The seafront teems with a variety of ways for visiting tourists to spend their money. The main strip of road along the beach is a kaleidoscope of neon and flashing lights advertising arcade machines, slot machines, fairground rides, crazy golf, fish-and-chip shops and various bars. There are also seasonal shops selling cheap ways to entertain oneself, such as kites and buckets-and-spades - such quieter pleasures can be enjoyed on the long wide award-winning beach, which in summer features a fine herd of rideable donkeys. The town is also a major centre for bowls, and is the home to the world's premier Meccano exhibition, annually staged in the Embassy Theatre [1], on the Grand Parade by the seafront. Behind the Embassy is Botton's Pleasure Beach, featuring roller coasters, mini merry-go-round (the Gallopers), bumper cars and many traditional and modern rides, as well as the annual spectacular end-of-season firework display.

To the south of the town is Gibraltar Point, a nature reserve on the northern limit of the Wash.

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Local politics

On the southern foreshore sits a popular family attraction, the Fairy Dell paddling pool. Closed by the district council because of health and safety fears in 2004, the pool soon became the centre of controversy as people from Skegness, elsewhere in the country and as far afield as Australia voiced their dismay at the loss of such a time-honoured free facility. Taxpayers and town councillors joined forces with the local press to campaign for the Fairy Dell to be reopened, and the district council gave way to public pressure and promised to have it back in operation by summer 2006.

In October 2005 the East Lincolnshire Primary Care Trust closed the Scarbrough Ward at Skegness Hospital as part of a package of money-saving measures. Locals were outraged by the decision, because the ward represents about a third of the hospital's entire capacity, and provides palliative care. Campaigners marched through the streets and held up the traffic, then later called for the resignations of the PCT board members after they turned down a £100,000 donation offered by East Lindsey District Council to enable the ward to remain open through the winter. The PCT said the donation would 'impinge' on its duties, and could be considered 'unlawful' if accepted.

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Education

Skegness is also the home to the schools for most of the surrounding area's secondary education. Two schools cater for the 11–18 age range, St Clement's College (formerly known as the Earl of Scarborough High), and Skegness Grammar School.

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