Two lifelong friends took a trip down memory lane by recreating a 45-year-old photograph on the same bench where it was first taken. Elsie Peters and Doris Cook were 17 when they originally posed in cowboy hats during a trip to Blackpool Pleasure Beach from their homes in Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire.
Now 62, the pair - who have been friends since they were seven - returned to the seaside town take an updated version. “We wanted to make sure our trip was done on a significant anniversary, so we chose the 45th year since we first went," said Ms Peters.
“We visited Blackpool for a couple of nights. We explored on Friday and then on Saturday we visited Pleasure Beach in the morning to take the photograph."
The trip was the first time the pair had visited Blackpool together since the original photo was taken in 1977. And they found the town had changed a little in that time.
“When we visited in 1977, we explored Blackpool and went on the rides at Pleasure Beach and the arcades – that’s what is was about in those days," Ms Peters said. "There weren’t all the clubs that are there now.”
And the pleasure beach itself has also undergone some changes. The Goldmine ride that featured in their original photograph - and inspired the cowboy hats - is now Alice in Wonderland themed.
They also found a little negotiation was needed to get into the attraction in the first place. “Now, you must pay to get into Pleasure Beach, but we explained to someone about the photo we wanted to recreate, and they let us in for free if we were escorted in and out," Ms Peters said.
The pair still live close to each other and meet up for a coffee and a chat a couple of times a month. Asked for the key to their long friendship, Ms Cook said: "You need to be there for each other when it’s needed, support each other and not criticise too much.”
