Southport Pleasureland. The Fun house – Its final laughs
Ever since Southport Pleasureland closed back on September 5th 2006 the fun house has stayed open honouring parties and bookings that were made when the park was in operation.
Unfortunately this all came to an end on the 31st March 2007 when the fun house held its final party.
As a member of Club Pleasure Beach I was invited to the final ever party in the fun house, it was an invite I couldn’t afford to turn down having visited the park and fun house for as long as I can remember.
I don’t recall many early memories of the fun house apart from the social mixer, joy wheel and the rotating barrel, I don’t even think I walked around the interior completely until a few years ago, but I must have as a nosey child.
It was arranged so that the club and a number of guests including former pleasureland staff would have the fun house to ourselves between 6pm and 9pm on the Saturday evening, in total about 50 people attended the event.
Ok here’s a few pictures and a quick tour of the fun house.
The Joywheel.
The Joywheel is a huge spinning wheel. the idea is to sit as central as possible to avoid being span off into the soft cushioning. Obviously its a lot more difficult than it looks or sounds and a skilled operator can have you off and in a heap in seconds.
My 2 kids, the older one was the final one to stay on the Joy wheel that evening. Anyone on the wheel to long is encouraged to put their hands on their heads, it’s not long before they are joining the rest of the riders in a heap.
Social Mixer.
This is a great ride, everyone sits around the edge of ride and then its starts to spin. Gravity soon takes over and you become stuck against the wall, a game they play is trying to get someone to touch the centre of the mixer.
Rotating Barrel.
This is great fun to watch, you get everything from kids trying to run through it to grown ups ending up in a heap on the base of it. Anyone who is tall can do a handstand in the barrel and it looks quite cool, been a 5ft 4inch shortly its something I didn’t consider.
As you would expect from a fun house there are all sorts of moving floors, shaky steps, slides, bouncy castle and other stunts to make you feel uneasy on your feet.
Wobbly steps.
At the top of the fun house there was some other activities and a small soft play area for the children.
Walking further around the top of the funhouse towards the slide.
The top of the slide.
Wobbly planks move back and forward.
A nice view of the joy wheel from the top of the fun house.
Back down to ground level they had an inflatable castle that made the trip over from frontierland.
I haven’t a clue what this is ;-), I think you roll coins round it.
A wooden Maze, similar to whats installed in Noahs Ark at Blackpool.
They also held a charity auction with various club members picking up some items and merchandise, I got a pleasureland fleece for £5.
Various ride signs and pictures from the ghost train.
Overall we had a great night with some great company, Id like to thank everyone involved in arranging this and wish the pleasureland staff the best of luck.
If you want to use any photographs on this blog please get in touch paul@ridemad.com. I’m quite happy to share and have high-resolution copies of everything used, to see the complete gallery visit the Ridemad Gallery
Thanks for Reading.
Article Credit: paul@ridemad.com
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