kirkyguy wrote:A guy on stilts pretending to be a mammy with a wane in a pram shouting to peeps....thats all i can remember of it..
Sorry, very late here.
I was 6 at the time.
Also I do remember the Mammy and wean on stilts slightly.
I thought it was silly because the wean was not a baby at all, but a grown up.
I remember things such as the Dome of discovery, with the automated person talking in it, and the Coca - cola rollercoaster was right beside it to its left (facing the clyde).
My Dad went on that and I don't think he has ever quite recovered
'I left my stomach somewhere at the top' he said,
but to me this seemed like a medical impossibility, I could not work out what he meant!
There was a fountain in between the two of them ( the dome and the rollercoaster I mean, not my Dad and his stomach), and a bandstand just off in the direction of the river wasn't there??
The Clydesdale tower was one of my favourite things.
There is loads I remember - we had season tickets' too, and we went *all the time*.
My big sister was in the school chior at the time, and she sang, along with other schoolkids on the Bell's bridge at the opening ceremony.
She was at the side of the SECC whilst we were on the festival side.
They all wore different coloured suits I remember (probably the colours' of the rainbow).
I saw Charles and Dianna away off in the distance (probably about 30 or 40 feet away, which seemed a huge distance at the time) as they opened it.
I cannot remember if this was on the opening day, but Edinburgh Zoo (I presume it was), brought the penguins over and they had their little parade along the riverfront.
I also remember all the ships and helicopters there.
There was a fire ship spraying huge jets of water across the Clyde, and I do recall a sailing ship docking with the crew all standing in formation on the masts.
There were motor boats, speedboats and yacht also amongst other things.
I do remember that tap you are talking about, also, the Intercity 125 (HST) cab mock - up with a speeded up film of a cab view video, playing along to music. That was beside one of the stations for the trains that seemed to hum when running.
What else was there........ hmmm, there were pipe bands and the like playing and marching across what seemed to me like school playing field type..... fields.
Bandstands with people in straw boaters playing banjos', basses', and other 20's type things playing rags, jazz and blues. Or people in modern cloths' playing electric guitars'.
There was a stationary tank engine that you could go into the cab of.
The front of it faced the Clydestale tower direction whilst the back (bunker) pointed in the direction of kids playground, floored with woodchip (that smell has kept with me), a wildlife section with strange hut things, and, of course, a Scottish t.v. exhibit where you could get STV badges and the like.
There was a huge tent or something where ice cream could be bought, and that was beside the Rotunda.
I have been informed that there was a pedestrian tunnel under the clyde and a butterfly house, but I do not remember these.
Oh yeah!!
If this is the festival I am thinking of (I remember Gateshead as well), then there was a huge (to me) maze and also Viking (??) boat bits that you could climb (?????).
Chiefly I remember this because I got lost from everyone else and started to cry.
I do, of course remember the trams, how could one NOT remember the trams??
What about the Blackpool 'boat', I remember that one *so* well.
I will likely rememeber more about it in due course.
This is just what I can think of off the top of my head, and I have only came across this thread tonight, so I am replying to a message from several months ago.
I have not read the rest of it yet, so if all of this is already mentioned then sorry.
This is just my memory of it when I was 6 straight off my head.
Please do correct me if you want.
My first ever memory was when I was in my Pram, so such a major event (for me) was always bound to stick in the mind.
I even remember the picture I drew in my 'News' jotter at school (P2) when we were told it had closed.
I drew the rollercoaster (with cars left hanging upside down on the loop), the trams, the tower and the wildlife woodchippy bit, all behind a barrier with a red 'No Entry' sign on it.
It had never occurred to me that it would close, and I was very disappointed to say the least!!
I thought that it would just be there forever, like a big themepark or something.
Memories, memories.
I can always rely on this forum to make myself feel about 10 times worse than I did before