Travel writer’s seaside mission

Ken Bennett, is Blackpool’s first media ambassador attending at Blackpool Town Hall.

AN Oldham Chronicle journalist has written a foreword in a new book promoting Blackpool.

Ken Bennett, who is the Chronicle’s travel writer and Saddleworth reporter, is also Blackpool’s first media ambassador. He attended a special launch to promote the book at Blackpool Town Hall.

“Blackpool: The People’s Playground” is a full colour panoramic tribute to Britain’s number one seaside resort celebrating its heritage and future.

It is filled with stunning and unusual images of the town taken by a team of students studying photography at Blackpool and Fylde College’s School of Art and Design.

Many of the images were featured in the nationwide “Blackpool — take a fresh look” photographic competition.

In his foreword, Mr Bennett, a multi-award winning travel writer, states: “There is no doubt it is a resort that time and tide have knocked about a bit.

“But its current long and winding road is leading it to secure a firm anchorage as Britain’s undisputed capital of entertainment.

“It has an uncanny knack of bouncing back and there is an impatient yearning to share in its regeneration and repositioning of the resort for the next century.”

Speaking at the launch, the town’s Mayor Norman Hardy, praised the book and said it would be a pictorial record marking the resort’s return to good fortune.

The book is produced by photographer Guy Woodland and edited by journalist Lewis Baxter.