Mechanical Memories Magazine

Arcade Memories of Long Ago
By Johnny Burley
Many people have written in the pages of thi s magazine of how they first began their
collections or how they first took an interest in Old Penny Slots, so I hope you will let
me indulge a little by telling you my story too.
Like most of us, it all started when I was a kid in short trousers. Most working
class families living in the East Midlands , where I was born and raised, somehow
managed to scrape together just enough to pay for a week's holiday at the nearest
seaside resort each year. For many of us, that resort was Skegness, on the Lincolnshire
coast. There were odd years when we had a change, maybe to Great Yarmouth, Rhyll
or Bridlington (which had the famous Joyland amusement complex), but it was mostly
good old 'Skeggy' which became my once a year paradi se.
This would have been in the late 1940s and through the 1950s. At that time,
Skegness had two amusement parks which we called 'The Old ' and 'The New'. The
newer one, which I believe was run by Botton Brothers, was in the centre of the resort
(and still exists), but my favourite was the old park situated at the end of the North
Parade. The site where Britain's first roller coaster (switchback) was constructed in
1885, it still retained many of it's older rides and attractions, also operating dozens of
the old 1920s and '30s slot machines in it's arcades.
The Figure 8 Switchback at th e 'Old Park' on North Parade, Skegness.
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