Between 1951 and 1961, Leamington’s Jephson Gardens played host to a spectacle of dazzling proportions: the Lights of Leamington illumination shows. They featured fireworks, dancing, live music, and, of course, illuminated displays that ranged from the sublime to the ridiculous! These included (but were by no means limited to): a skyline of New York reflected in the lake; miniature scenes of mushroom fairy cottages; birds glowing in their cages; a floating pagoda; a juggling giraffe; and a yearly illuminated floral clock.
Light is a powerful instrument in transforming spaces. Historians such as Craig Koslofsky have talked about the ways in which street lighting has altered people’s perception of the night-time, allowing the wider public to lay claim to, or ‘colonise’, spaces which had previously been unsafe or the domain of more marginalised groups.1
I wonder how attitudes towards a dark park at night-time could be changed by such a defiant display of public light?
Passing the torch…
Now, I confess, I am not old enough to have any memories of the Leamington events, but I do have friends who visited the recent ‘Lumiere’ light festival in London. From their stories I gather it was an intense experience, an opportunity for artists and creative folk to play with light in innovative and powerful ways. There’s something special about seeing a familiar place transformed by these installations; places you knew well become full of new discoveries. I wish I’d had the opportunity to see the show in London, just as I wish I could have seen Jephson Gardens lit up as it is in these postcards.
The kind of installations seen in London this year were very different from those in the postcards of Leamington’s ’50s festivals. But I can imagine they sparked the same sense of exploration, wonder and spectacle. And both were opportunities to fill a scene with creative ideas, to watch it transform with the setting sun and, as the lights fade, to see it returned to its familiar self.
Do you have memories of the Lights of Leamington? Or did you see the show in London this year? I’d love to hear about the experience, and what you think these light festivals bring to our sense of place and cultural heritage.
1 Craig Koslofsky, Evening’s Empire: A history of the night in early modern Europe, Cambridge University Press, 2011.
Comments
I did go as a child once maybe twice..it was quite nice but my dad and mom were always grumping at each other… I was very young maybe 6? My dad hated the shuffling line, I thought it was great.
When I was a young child around mid 1950s Mum, Dad and my brother went over to see the lights in Jephsons Gardens, I remember it was a dark evening but the park was lit up and it was very exciting, we walked along the footpaths and every now and again their was a small tableau in the bushes with scenes of pixies, fairy houses, gnomes/elves cobbler shops – the characters moved and must have been mechanical I think, it was very magical for a small child. I don’t know if my brother remembers anything, he was just that little bit older so his memory may be different.
A few years ago I went to ‘Odin’s Glow’, an event held near the village where my relatives live in North Yorkshire celebrating a local landmark hill, which was lit up by pyrotechnics. It was a fantastic experience transforming the everyday and ordinary into something quite spectacular – a farmer’s pond decorated with floating candles looked like something out of a myth and a bus stop was transformed into an aquarium. There was even a Valkyrie on a bicycle!
Going back through the village in the sunlight, it is hard to imagine it all now. I suppose that’s part of the magic of it, in that being surreal and extraordinary gives the memory a dreamlike quality afterwords.
The event was held in October and helped cheer a dark night up; though it was cold, it all added to the atmosphere. What time of year were the illuminations in Leamington held?
I was 18 when the festival started and went every year. I remember a band would play on the island in the middle of the lake and we would crowd around the waters edge and watch. There would be a marquee on the lawn at the back of the gardens where you could dance. It was a big event for the town and coaches would arrive with crowds of people. It would be great if they could recreate it again.
The Lights of Leamington started in 1951 as part of the Festival of Britain. They finished in 1961. Thousands came to Leamington by coach, buses and train. Train fares to come to Leamington were advertised all over the millions. The idea was to give pleasure to the citizens of Leamington following the austere years of and after the war. They finally finished as their time was over, also the equipment was worn out and also a lot more rowdy ism from excessive drinking etc
Yes my Dad and I often went to see the lights at the Jephson Gardens, truly magical. I remember the illuminated cascades in the waterfalls running through the park… and animals such as squirrels apparently hopping through the branches of the trees. Most importantly we used to go for the Firework Displays that used to be put on every Saturday.
I have an enduring love of fireworks since then. In fact I learnt the trade and put on quite big shows myself for many many years.
All these years later I can still remember my parents taking me to the garden luminations, there were light up animals in the trees and fairy lights everywhere.
All the fountain were awash with beautiful lights, it was a magical experience for a child.
My sister and I went a couple of times to the Leamington illuminations with Mum and Dad from Sparkhill on an evening coach trip from Birmingham and loved it I think I saw a large illuminated peacock one time. I now live in Australia.
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