Allan W. Wood is a Blackpool-born author and local historian whose work has become closely associated with preserving the visual and architectural history of the Fylde Coast. Through books, archive photography and comparative “then and now” studies, he has documented the changing face of Blackpool across the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Raised in the resort, Wood later studied Civil Engineering at Sheffield Polytechnic before returning to Blackpool to work in the Borough Surveyor’s Department at Blackpool Borough Council between 1978 and 1989. His interest in local history reportedly began in the 1970s after discovering historic postcards and photographs at…
Some 40 years have gone by since three heroic Blackpool police officers gave the ultimate sacrifice while attempting to save a man and his dog from the choppy Irish Sea. On 5 January 1983, a Scottish holidaymaker had been walking along the Blackpool coast near Gynn Square. 25-year-old Alistair Anthony was with his terrier, Henry, along the prom. The next twelve hours would see Alistair and three officers lose their lives with a fourth hospitalised as they tried to retrieve the dog. To this day it remains the greatest loss of police life to Lancashire officers. It was January 5 when the... 