I’ve not been to Cleveleys since I was I was seven. Sixty years later I had this illogical urge to eat fish and chips on the sea front. On a cold sunny morning I arrived on the promenade. It is new, all of it! Part of an improved sea defence scheme to prevent the town being flooded. It is magnificent; not just a pile of concrete but an art inspired design called The Wave. It literally flows along the sea shore and you can imagine in a storm how the water will swirl and be channeled back into the sea.
Search for seashells and you will find Mary’s Shell standing on the shore. It’s a four metre high sculpture designed by Stephen Broadbent. Children were climbing on it, sliding down it , hiding within it and dancing around it.
On the same sandy beach they raced over to touch the Sea Ogre standing in silvery sea foam: 12 tonnes of polished and unpolished limestone carved by Adrian Wright.
And what else? Explore the Sea Swallows – aluminium
beacons standing high above the promenade or our dear friend John Merrill’s nine metre long wooden Paddle. You will remember John, who has worked closely with Mid Pennine Arts, for his White Lightning on the Padiham Greenway.
The inspirational thread for this artwork is an illustrated children’s story: The Sea Swallow by Gareth Thompson, illustrated by Hannah Megee. I remember poring over a copy brought into the Office by Steph Hawke. It had originated in the Lancaster Literature Festival. It too is worth a look.
And the fish and chips? ….try ‘Kay’s Fish and Chips’ just opposite the promenade.
DAVID SMITH
Cleveley’s Sea Defence and Promenade Scheme – Wyre Borough Council
Mythic Coast Artwork Trail – Visit Lancashire
Photographs courtesy of Aran Smithson (Evoke Photographic) & Alan Cookson
