The SeaQuarium marine aquarium located on the beachWeston-super-Mare is still a tourist destination, with attractions such as the long sandy beach, the The Helicopter Museum, the Grand Pier, the SeaQuarium aquarium and the Weston Miniature Railway, which is situated on the Beach Lawns, as well as a putting green, gift shop and café. Trains on the railway are pulled by steam or petrol locomotives. Also on site is a Drive It Yourself Train. The Paddle Steamer Waverley and MV Balmoral offer day sea trips from Knightstone Island to various destinations along the Bristol Channel and Severn estuary, tickets for which are on sale at the resort's Tourist Information Centre. Museums include the North Somerset Museum and Lambretta Scooter Museum.
The T4 on the Beach concert, hosted by Channel 4 youth programme T4, is a recent addition. Many well known bands and singers perform up to three of their hits. However, many of the vocals are mimed as the event is being produced for live TV broadcast.[8]
International HeliDays is usually staged at the beach lawns over a long weekend around the end of July, where helicopters from around the world are displayed, in association with the The Helicopter Museum. There is also an annual display by the Red Arrows, usually held around the same time as the HeliDays event.
Weston Beach Race is an annual Motorcross Enduro event in October, first held in 1982. In 2005 it attracted 1,400 competitors and around 80,000 spectators. There are a number of races for quad bikes, sidecars and children in addition to the main event.
Weston is also the final event on the November West Country Carnival circuit, when a large number of brightly illuminated floats parade through the streets.
Some of the town's attractions are now past their best.
Birnbeck Pier, to the north of the town is now derelict, although Manchester-based company Urban Splash who purchased the pier in 2006 will soon announce plans for its restoration.
Knightstone Island historically housed a theatre, swimming pool and sauna. After years of disrepair and dereliction, the area is being redeveloped by Redrow Homes. During 2006/2007, luxury apartments and commercial outlets will be completed at this site. Consideration has been taken due to the listed building status of much of the site. Boat trips from here include the Waverley and Balmoral (see Tourism Section) and trips to Steep Holm Island as well as short trips around Weston Bay.
The Tropicana located half way along the sea front is now derelict, but once provided an outdoor swimming pool (Lido) complex. A private developer, Henry Boot, has been selected to take forward the re-development of the Tropicana. Contracts for the new Life Station@Tropicana development were exchanged in March 2007 and will include a 96 bedroom hotel, indoor pool, cinema, bowling alley, restaurants and bars. Re-development of the Tropicana has been beset by delays and controversy,[9] Plans will now be submitted in Autumn 2007 with opening due in Spring 2010.[10]
Before contracts were placed a group of local residents challenged the council over its decision to appoint Henry Boot and asked to put forward their own proposals for the site.[11]
Hockey Ever year Weston plays host to the world renowned Western Hockey festival where Hockey teams from far a field and locally compete in a tournament over the Easter weekend, there is also some drinking involved although this aspect of the tour is discouraged.
Geography
Low and high tides
Looking north from the sandy part of the main beach as the tide recedes, July 2006 The mainly flat landscape of Weston is dominated by Worlebury Hill which borders the entire northern edge of the town, and Bleadon Hill which together with the River Axe, and Brean Down at Uphill form its southern border. In the centre of the town is Ellenborough Park a Site of Special Scientific Interest due to the range of plant species found there.
Steep Holm
(an island in the Bristol Channel The beach lies on the western edge of the town. The upper part is sandy but, as the sea retreats a long way with the tide exposing mud flats, the town is sometimes unkindly, yet undeniably accurately, known as "Weston-super-Mud". The tidal range in this part of the Bristol Channel is great, since the beach and mud flats are on a gentle slope. Consequently it is only at the part of the tide cycle where high tide is in the early morning and late afternoon that the sea comes well up the beach. Many day visitors see little of the sea because of this and also must be confused to see a long pier with little or no water under it. Attempting to reach the sea at these times is inadvisable as the sand gives way to mud which is very deep and has cost several people their lives over the years. Driving on the beach (which is permitted in certain areas) catches people out as they drive too close to the sea and break through the sand to the underlying mud and are then stuck.
The tidal rise and fall in the Severn Estuary and Bristol Channel is the second largest in the world and can be as great as 15 m (49 ft). This tidal movement contributes to the deposition of natural mud in bays such as Weston. Despite the muddy brown appearance of the sea water, chemically the Bristol Channel is reasonably clean.
Transport
Map of Weston super Mare in 1946The main Weston-super-Mare railway station is close to the town centre less than ten minutes walk from the sea front. Other stations are located at Weston Milton and Worle. Weston-super-Mare station has direct high speed train services to London Paddington including First Great Western's Bristolian express service, which only serves Weston-super-Mare in the London bound direction. Weston-super-Mare main railway station also has direct services to stations such as Bristol, Taunton and Cardiff Central.
Most bus services are provided by First Group, although some services are operated by acltravel and 1-Spin Travel operate 1 weston super mare town service and a night-Bus Service to Bristol. All services call at stops in the Regent Street/Big Lamp Corner area; a few services to Sand Bay, Wells, Burnham-on-Sea and Bristol International Airport start from or run via the main railway station. Some bus services serve the main High Street.
Weston is close to Junction 21 of the M5 motorway. In the 1990s a dual-carriageway relief road was opened from the motorway into the centre of the town. This replaced Locking Road as the designated A370 route and avoided some of the traffic congestion along that narrower urban road.
Industry
Since the 1970s Weston has suffered a large decline in popularity, like virtually all British seaside resorts. The advent of cheap foreign holidays and the break-up of large industries like mining contributed, as working communities became less likely to holiday together. The town had become a centre of industries such as helicopter production, and maintenance at the GKN Westlands factory until its closure in 2002.[7] Road transport links were improved with the M5 motorway running close by, and the town now supports several light industries and distribution depots, including Lidl's distribution centre for all its southern based stores, and functions partly as a dormitory town for Bristol. Philip Harris Ltd moved their production unit to the town in the 1970s to join their biological supplies division, which moved from Sheffield in 1965. Some biological supplies work still continues under different owners. Two of the town's largest employers are the local council and Weston College, which has recently begun to offer university degrees as a secondary campus of Bath Spa University.
Culture and sport
The Winter GardensThe town has a number of arts venues. The Playhouse serves both tourists and the local population. The Winter Gardens on the seafront hosts shows, exhibitions and conferences. The Blakehay Theatre & Community Arts Centre is a small venue housed in a former Baptist church.
Weston-Super-Mare has a couple of live music venues of note. Hobbit's on Carlton Street, caters mainly for young up and coming punk and pop acts: whilst the nearby Scally's bar [2] hosts local and national touring rock bands; Juicy Lucy, Alien Stash Tin and Dumpy's Rusty Nuts having performed at the venue in recent years, on the other side of town The Back Bar, The London, and the Imperial hold regular open mic nights which attract a wide array of local musicians, as well as artists from further afield. Some of these include: Ryan Inglis, Lenny Savage, Matt Wescott, who also have featured at the Underground Sounds Hush Night, which runs at various venues every month around Weston.
Football team Weston-super-Mare A.F.C. play in the Conference South at the purpose-built Woodspring Stadium, which opened in August 2004.
There are two Rugby clubs in the town; Weston-super-Mare RFC, formed in 1875, and Hornets RFC, formed in 1962. They play in South West Division One and South West Division Two (West) respectively.
Somerset County Cricket Club played First Class and One-Day matches for one week a season on a pitch prepared at Clarence Park, near the Sea Front. This began in 1914 and continued until the last “festival” in 1996.
The town is well known amongst motocross enthusiasts for staging the Weston Super Mare beach race every Autumn. Over 900 riders take part in the annual event, with crowds approaching 20,000 spectators. In addition, races are also held for youth riders, sidecarcross riders and quad bike competitors. The most recent winner of the Weston Beach Race was reigning World Motocross Champion Steve Ramon of Belgium.
The town was the subject of a song Sunny Weston-super-Mare performed by local band, The Wurzels.
The Weston and Worle News is a free weekly newspaper serving the local area.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weston-super-Mare
Government and politics
Weston-super-Mare town hall.Made an urban district in 1894, Weston-super-Mare became a municipal borough in 1937. In 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972, it was merged into the Woodspring district of the County of Avon, and became a Charter Trustees town.
Before 1974, Weston-super-Mare was in the County of Somerset. When Avon was split up in 1996, it became the administrative headquarters of North Somerset, one of the successor authorities. Weston-super-Mare regained a town council in 2000, becoming a civil parish.
The MP for the Weston-super-Mare parliamentary constituency is John Penrose of the Conservative Party, who won the seat in the 2005 General Election.
