Over the Bank Holiday, many Wirral families headed to the New Brighton spring festival, seeing groups head to the Dips for the occasion.
Taking place Friday, April 28 to Monday, May 1, the event boasted a continental market, outside bars and children activities including dinosaurs, transformers, fairground stalls and huge inflatables. Many residents took to local Facebook groups to share their thoughts on the festival, from prices to entertainment on offer.
A number of people compared it to the days of the lost Wirral Show - which left us feeling nostalgic. If you grew up on the Wirral, it's likely you'll remember this event, which also took place in New Brighton.
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Running for 33 years, the Wirral Show was an integral part of many people's childhood and at one point was one of the UK's biggest free-to-enter summer attractions. Drawing in thousands, the event first began in 1977 as a community project of the Rotary Club of Wallasey as a means to mark the Queen’s Silver Jubilee.
Reviving the Wallasey Carnival with a parade of decorated floats through the town, the parade finished on New Brighton promenade where a number of stalls had been installed. Later years saw the number of floats decrease, while the number of stalls continued to rise, quickly becoming the main attraction.
Entertainment was the next thing to be added and increased visitors meant the Wirral Show began to be too much for Rotary alone. As a result, the Lions and Round Table clubs were invited to help with the community event.
Becoming a two-day event, crowds came from across the borough, wider Merseyside and Wales to enjoy the event with no charge for entry. Over time the showground extended to cover the entire area of open land, known as The Dips, between New Brighton and Harrison Drive.
Many still have fond memories and photos from the annual event, which was crammed full of rides, stalls and entertainments along the picturesque coastline overlooking the mouth of the River Mersey. But in 2009, after 33 years of entertaining the people of Merseyside, the Wirral Show held its final event.
The huge two-day event in New Brighton was axed when organisers the Rotary Club of Wallasey and the Wallasey Lions Club pulled out. Over the years, many calls for the popular event to be brought back have been made by the public.
There have even been times where it even looked like it might happen. On New Year's Day in 2015, a budding would-be organiser set up a Facebook page – Wirral fun show – announcing his intention to plan a new event.
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The page was liked by over 5,100 people and several events organisers and local business owners had joined to form an organising committee. But following a meeting with Wirral Council, the proposal was put on hold.
Today, the Wirral Show is still a fond part of our past. But it's weekend's like the one just gone that still spark those memories.
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