The Christmas season here in California is getting into gear as all around decorations appear and brightly lit trees spring up overnight. A mild case of home sickness has me casting my mind back to Christmas's long past in my home city of Liverpool. To Liverpool people of a certain age Blacklers department store and its fantastic grotto was Christmas. The city may have seemed grey and gloomy at times with the air of a once great city down on its luck but Blacklers and its make believe winter wonderland and five shilling toys made both young and old forget the troubles around them. Long gone now the store still brings a smile to the face of any scouser who thinks back to the post war years and the austerity of the 50's and early 60's....I hope this Christmas is just as good and rewarding for those who visit here as it will be for all my family and friends.
Tuesday 1 December 2009
Tis the season
The Christmas season here in California is getting into gear as all around decorations appear and brightly lit trees spring up overnight. A mild case of home sickness has me casting my mind back to Christmas's long past in my home city of Liverpool. To Liverpool people of a certain age Blacklers department store and its fantastic grotto was Christmas. The city may have seemed grey and gloomy at times with the air of a once great city down on its luck but Blacklers and its make believe winter wonderland and five shilling toys made both young and old forget the troubles around them. Long gone now the store still brings a smile to the face of any scouser who thinks back to the post war years and the austerity of the 50's and early 60's....I hope this Christmas is just as good and rewarding for those who visit here as it will be for all my family and friends.
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6 comments:
Hello Thud, 'Blacklers' that evokes some warm childhood memories.
I clearly remember the Christmas Grotto, but, apparently, I did not care much for Father Christmas and screamed the place down, when placed on his lap for the obligatory photograph.
Do you remember Lewis's grotto, I believe thats still going, it's supposed to be really good this year, so, we will probably take our grandchildren to it.
Ricky Tomlinson is opening it and has just recorded a Christmas DVD there...playing, would you believe...Father Christmas...
I do hope he moderates his language!
Di.x
Ah i remember it well. We always got dragged around Lewis's, but i always remember the Blacklers lights as we were out drinking after work in the cold and dark after work, always a festive feel and give me a thirsty feeling if i'm around town.
Mines a pint Tim
...and the giant Father Christmas, and the large rocking horse by the lift...
What lovely memories you have stirred my friend. I used to shop at Blacklers Dept. store every Monday with my grandma. Yes, the grotto and that giant rocking horse, oh I wanted to take that beggar home so many times, gran would say we couldn't fit it on the H-1 ..lol
They had some of the best window displays in the city, and Lewis's ran a close second.
Lovely, memories we all share.
Don't know about Father Christmas Trubes; it was the rocking horse that frightened the life outta me.I believe it's still going strong somewhere in Alder Hey.Glad I don't have to go there anymore!!
The rocking horse is in Alder Hey? That's fab...I wonder if they will let me visit it next time I am home.
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