UK Blues Festival 2026

Winter Gardens, Blackpool. Friday/Monday 30-January/01-February-2026.

Part three of a January road trip. A couple of days in Essex, six days in Italy and a return to the UK to pick up our car from Stansted mid stay and drive straight to Blackpool.

This was our third visit to Blackpool for this festival. We booked shortly after it finished last year to take advantage of the early bird ticket deal. We were so quick off the mark that we got tickets numbers 3 and 4. When I pointed that out to Steven, the organiser, he joked that we should be book earlier next time.

Our accommodation was a real find, high quality beautiful place within 5 minutes walking distance of the venue and with off-street parking

Friday 30-January-2026.

Friday Timetable.

Friday Main Stage. 

Mississippi MacDonald ✱ ✱ ✱. We missed the first band on the main stage but arrived just in time to hear an act we discovered two years ago and he gets better each time we hear him. Great voice, great playing and great band. Memphis and Delta Blues.

Deborah Bonham Band. ✱ 1/2 Sister of John Bonham of Led Zeppelin fame. Unfortunately no surprise appearance Robert Plant like two years ago. Accomplished musicians but not our favourite style of music.

After a day of travelling we needed an early night so left before the end.

Saturday 31-January-2026

Lytham Hall 31/01/2026 30:38 [159 / 308].

Saturday morning was, of course #parkrunday. Having done the two nearest parkruns in previous years we had to go slightly further afield to Lytham-St Annes for a parkrun run at the majestic Lytham Hall.

After a return to the apartment and a shower, it was off to the Winter Gardens for more music.

Saturday Timetable.

Saturday Acoustic stage.

In previous years we have enjoyed the acoustic sets played in a lovely room that looks like an old pub.

Mississippi MacDonald.  ✱ ✱ ✱ Old school blues this time the acoustic version.

Steve Pablo Jones standing in for Demi Marriner  ✱ ✱. Next up was supposed to be Demi but she was suffering with some kind of lurgy so withdrew in order to save her voice for the evening set. Not sure about him at first but he grew on me.

Saturday main stage.

Mick McConnell and Blue Thunder.  ✱ 1/2 - rockers, accomplished but nothing to distinguish from others.

Demi Marriner. ✱ ✱ ✱  We had seen Demi perform before but only as part of Elles Bailey’s band so it was a delight to see her with her own band. Even under the weather, absolutely magic. Fantastic personality, amazing voice, great songwriting, great band.

Climax Blues Band.  ✱ ✱ Great tight band, enjoyable but can't stop comparing them to the line-up we first saw at Skegness in 2020 with a different lead singer with a distinctive voice, especially as we listen to the CDs from that era.

Kitty, Daisy and Lewis.   ✱ 1/2 Competent and versatile musicians, the three siblings rotated between lead, bass and drums which was impressive but risked them being jack-of-all-trades but master of none (especially on the drums). Their music style had shades of Madness but not for us.

Sunday 01-February-2026.

Sunday Timetable.

Sunday Introducing stage.

McHale's Permanent Brew. ✱ ✱ ✱ Rock band with a difference. Great musicianship and songwriting, tight band and, like last time at Liverpool, great banter. They come across as fun, caring people.

Sunday Acoustic stage.

Brave Rival. ✱ ✱ ✱   Great set, fabulous comedic banter.

Lindsey Bonnick and guitarist Ed "the Shred" Clarke traded insults in the best possible way.

Adam Sweet. ✱ ✱ Accomplished singer-songwriter. Enjoyable to listen too but not memorable enough to buy a CD.

Sunday Main stage.

James Oliver Band.  ✱ ✱  Amazing guitarist but banter, music and band set up so does not work for me.

Mary left me guarding our seats while she went off to catch some of the other acts:

• The Outlaw Orchestra - Introducing ✱ 1/2 Trio - 2 guitars & drums. Not sure about the drummer, guitarists good but not remarkable.
• Sean Taylor - Acoustic  ✱ ✱ 1/2 Guitar & bass. Only heard 2 songs but liked them and audience obviously loved him. Proper acoustic, old style blues then folk / rock (Freedom ex Richie Havens), good banter
• The Living Cup - Introducing ✱ 1/2 Five  piece, four guitars and drums. Good musically but not great, not sure about lead singer's voice.

Sunday Main Stage.

Will Wilde ✱ ✱ 1/2 Great band and vocals / harp playing. Five piece: Will on vocals/harp, two guitarists, keyboards and Animal on drums (aka Kev Hickman).

Brave Rival.  ✱ ✱ ✱ Lovely to hear them for the second time in a day and compare the "acoustic" and full force versions.

Andy Fairweather-Low and The Low Riders.  ✱ ✱ ✱ A musical history lesson & masterclass from the 77 year old Andy and his band of cronies.

Andy on vocals and the only guitar with two brass, a bass and drums. His voice may be going but guitar skills are still amazing as was his array of seven guitars!

Fantastic weekend in Blackpool, massive thanks to Solid Entertainments and their Blues, Rhythm &Rock Festivals UK.

Tally this time: 

• 1 x luxurious and comfortable apartment 
• 1 x parkrun 
• 1 x fabulous festival in a great venue 
• 18 x music sets (16 different bands) 
• 3 x opportunities to wear my festival hat 
• 7 x CD's 
• 1 x t-shirt 

Mary’s very stylish Vera Black hat.

That's a wrap. Bye bye Blackpool, see you next year! 

Next morning pack up, clean and tidy the apartment and a short drive home.

Victorian Hexagonal Pillar Boxes

I have always had a fondness for the Victorian hexagonal pillar box ever since I saw my first one in Wimbledon Common outside King’s College School back around 1980. 

Woodhayes Road, Wimbledon, London. circa 1980. 

Google tells me “The hexagonal pillar box, commonly known as the Penfold postbox, is an iconic Victorian-era mailbox designed by architect John Wornham Penfold in 1866. Produced between 1866 and 1879, these cast-iron, hexagonal, red boxes feature decorative acanthus leaves, a ball-topped dome, and a VR royal cipher, often appearing in historic locations across Britain.”

The following half dozen photos are mine from our travels. I am always excited to come across another example. The rest I snagged from elsewhere.

Holyrood Park Road, Edinburgh. 24-April 2022. We were in Scotland for an Elles Bailey concert and went for a walk up to Arthur’s seat passing this specimen.

Mill Lane, Hartington 23-April-2023. Encountered on a walking holiday in Bakewell.

Emerson Street, Napier, New Zealand. 25-February-2025. We were amazed to discover this design had made it down under as part of our grand tour down under in the fascinating Art Deco city of Napier.

Fisher Street, Carlisle. 06-December-2025. We were manning a charity stall at Carlisle Farmers market a stumbled across this example during a break for lunch. 

New Halls Road, South Queensferry. 20-December-2025. Collecting a friend from Edinburgh airport we decided to go up the night before and stay in South Queensferry where this model was sited on the banks of the River Forth.

Following are not my photos but snagged from a FaceBook post. Credit / apologies to the original posters.

King’s Parade, Cambridge.

North Oxford.

Rochester, Kent.

Bath.

Palace Green, Durham Cathedral.

Fort Kochi, Kerela, India.

This is said to be one of the oldest post boxes still in everyday use; it dates from 1873.

There are reports of others in:

• Pantiles, Tunbridge Wells
• A second one in Oxford
• Folkestone
• A cluster of them in Cheltenham

Unsurprisingly, there is an FaceBook group dedicated to Old Post boxes uk.

And of course Wikipedia has a full list of photos at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Penfold_pillar_boxes_in_England so I think I’ll stop there.

Parkrun Tourism Part 09 - 2025, Epilogue

All over the place. January to December 2025 - Epilogue.

So in summary: this year we managed 53 (Mark, A3228002) / 52 (Mary, A4975813) parkruns in 32 locations of which 27 were new to us, plus 5 countries of which 3 were new to us. That means over 50% touristing!

So much tourism this year I have broken this summary into chapters.

• Parkrun Tourism Part 09 - 2025, January to March. New Year's Day to our New Zealand trip
• Parkrun Tourism Part 09 - 2025, March to July. Up to my 100th venue
• Parkrun Tourism Part 09 - 2025, August to December. Up to the end of the year including Mary's 100 / 250
• Parkrun Tourism Part 09 - 2025, Epilogue. And in conclusion

Although we missed two weeks due to events with Friends of Carlisle Victorian and Turkish Baths we still managed 53/52 parkruns thanks to the special days: New Years Day (Penrith), Ascension Day (Copenhagen) and German Unity Day (Munich).

Highlights of the year:

• Mark: Cowell Club (100 locations)
• Mary: 250th parkrun
• Mary: Cowell Club (100 locations)
• Both: completing all parkruns in Cumbria
• Mary: Namely (GALASHAN)
• Both: Old MacDonald (E-I-E-I-O)
• Both: Snakes (10 "S")
• Both: Special Events (Munich and Copenhagen): the special event trips were great fun; exploring cities we had not visited before, and meeting lots of fellow mad tourists.
• Parkrun in a prison was unique and a great experience
• Three more countries (Australia, New Zealand, Denmark)

Full list of all touristing in 2025:

January to March Tourism:

• Faskally Forest (Scotland)
• Greenock (Scotland)
• Hackney Marshes
• Barrow
• Fleetwood Promenade
• North Sydney (Australia)
• Hagley (New Zealand)
• Greytown Woodside Trail (New Zealand)
• Ōrākei Bay (New Zealand)

March to July Tourism:

• Muncaster Castle
• Crosby
• Black Combe (HMP Haverigg)
• Leazes
• Milano Nord (Italy), not new
• Fælledparken (Denmark)
• Amager Strandpark (Denmark)
• Southampton

August to December Tourism:

• Skipton
• Riemer (Germany)
• Westpark (Germany)
• Whinlatter Forest
• Victoria (Scotland)
• Rising Sun
• Ingrebourne Hill
• Levengrove (Scotland)
• Edinburgh (Scotland)
• Strathclyde (Scotland)

I have posted the following before but smugness demands I repeat here:

Mark's performance by year.

Someone in the parkrun discussion group on FaceBook asked, “What have older people's thoughts been about seeing their performance drop off? How do you feel when you look at your times from a few years ago and notice a decline?”

Of course I had to do an analysis of my average time and age percentage by calendar year.

I looked back and my average time is the same in 2025 (age 73) as it was in 2017 (age 65) and the age grading has correspondingly increased. Feeling Smug!

The improvements in 2018 and 2019 are attributable to training for the London marathons. The improvement in 2021 was thanks to twice weekly runs with Nigel around Penrith during lockdown when you were allowed to exercise with one other. Looking at the two parkruns bracketing the lockdowns I improved by two whole minutes, from 29:07 to 27:07.  

Mary's performance by year.

The same analysis for Mary would show slowing down with age and injury but would not really be worthwhile as she occasionally volunteers as tailwalker or parkwalker which would skew her results.

Parkrun Tourism Part 09 - 2025, August to December

All over the place. August to December 2025.

This year we managed 53 (Mark, A3228002) / 52 (Mary, A4975813) parkruns in 32 locations of which 27 were new to us, plus 5 countries of which 3 were new to us. That means over 50% touristing!

So much tourism this year I have broken this summary into chapters.

• Parkrun Tourism Part 09 - 2025, January to March. New Year's Day to our New Zealand trip
• Parkrun Tourism Part 09 - 2025, March to July. Up to my 100th venue
• Parkrun Tourism Part 09 - 2025, August to December. Up to the end of the year including Mary's 100 / 250
• Parkrun Tourism Part 09 - 2025, Epilogue. And in conclusion

August to December Tourism:

• Skipton
• Riemer
• Westpark
• Whinlatter Forest
• Victoria
• Rising Sun
• Ingrebourne Hill
• Levengrove
• Edinburgh
• Strathclyde

Skipton 30/08/2025 32:04 [162 / 325].

We were invited to Skipton for a wedding celebration for friends Tuks and Paul. They have an apartment in Cisternino and we met as a result of helping some friends of theirs just outside Cisternino who were in need of directions. Earlier this year Tuks and Paul "eloped" to Gretna Green for a very quiet wedding but not want wanting to miss out on a party they planned a celebration later. We were touched to be invited as we have only known them a relatively short time. So it was a Weekend "city" break in Skipton and, of course a new parkrun.

We introduced Tuks and Paul to parkrun and they are now regulars at Skipton and Salento.

The course is four and a bit laps, undulating, on tarmac around a lovely park and the rain held off for a lovely parkrun. Mary was still slow at the time due to injury so volunteered as Tailwalker. 

Reimer 03/10/2025 29:32 [87 / 151].

Part 1 of a German Unity Day double. This year it was the turn of Munich which happily coincided with Oktoberfest. The cost of flights from Puglia to Munich were extortionate so we went for Plan B - a four-day interrail pass and made a train trip of it, stopping off overnight at Bologna in both directions. 

Friday it was a bit cool, there was still frost on the grass. The Run Director was English and was astonished at the size of the turnout. Unsurprisingly the vast majority were tourists, mostly from England. They had a record attendance of 151 of whom three-quarters (112, 74%) were first time visitors.

The locals, and a friend from Bratislava, even wore dirndls and lederhosen at parkrun!

Westpark 04/10/2025 30:00 [106 / 175]. 

The second half of the German Unity Day double. Two laps of a beautiful park with a lake, only a couple of gentle slopes and a cafe for parkfaff afterwards. We caught up with a number of people we had seen the day before as well talking to other tourists.

Another beautiful setting for a parkrun which attracted this heron. 

The rest of the weekend was spent doing the tourist thing: eating, drinking, a concert and a palace. Read more at City Break - Munich. 

Whinlatter Forest 30/10/2025 37:08 [69 / 86]. 

This parkrun had been a year in the planning to make Mary's 250th parkwalk coincide with her 100th different venue (known as a "Cowell"). This had originally been planned for German Unity day but injury scuppered that plan. A re-plan included a change of location and Mary volunteering for one week to keep the milestone in sync. The upshot was not only a double achievement but also completing all parkruns in Cumbria - three achievements for the price of one!

Lots of our friends turned out in support: Sandra, Tuks, Paul, Sarah, Siobhan, Nigel, John and Dixie.  A challenging but beautiful course. Now definitely "over the hill"!.

Sandra baked some lovely surprise muffins.

The t-shirt was printed by Shadow of a Saint.

It's official and every single one a parkwalk.

The cow ears were supplied by our friends Marcus and Manuela (gifted to Mary at Esslingen in 2023 for her half Cowell).

Victoria 01/11/2025 29:11 [272 / 430]. 

Victoria Park, Glasgow for our second "V". 

Three and a bit laps round a gorgeous park and amazingly no rain during the event. Great crowd with many in fancy dress for Halloween (no pictures, sorry).

Sister-in-law Sandra powering along.

Mary striding out in the Scottish sunshine.

There were a large number of marshals to keep us on the right path, courtesy of a volunteer takeover by the Vegan Runners. Also taking part were their nemesis, The Bacon Butty Brigade!.

Rising Sun 15/11/2025 30:43 [148 / 275]. 

We were in Newcastle for Dom Martin and Blue Nation at The Clooney on Saturday night and generally exploring the area. So of course we went across the day before to fit another parkrun and stayed at a home exchange apartment. Friday night we went out for a truly fantastic vegan Mexican Cantina literally just round the corner from the apartment followed by a luscious Pisco Sour in a bar called the Mortal Wombat two doors away.

Rising Sun parkrun was a change of venue (the original plan for Town Moor was again thwarted this time by another event in the park).

A single lap consisting of an out with a couple of turns, a loop then back on the same path. Like a tennis racquet with a broken handle! Good paths all the way however a bit muddy and wet at the time so trail shoes were ideal. It was a scenic course even on a grey day with lovely autumn colours and a lake, must be beautiful when the flowers are out.

Lots of marshals - very useful on a twisty course like this giving you positive reassurance that you are going the right way.

My job is paparazzo for Mary as she approaches the finish line. I was deep in conversation when Mary appeared and I missed her approach. This is her saying, "You had one job!". To be fair that is only the second time in 252 parkruns.

Ingrebourne Hill 29/11/2025 30:33 [148 / 275]. 

A hectic weekend in London see [City Break - London, November 2025]. We needed an "I" for our second alphabet so Thursday night we travelled to Romford, staying at Spark by Hilton right next to Romford Station.

Saturday was #parkrunday, of course, at Ingrebourne Hill in Rainham and the reason we had based ourselves in Romford. Tourists from all over with different reasons for being there. Some were there for an "I" like us. Another couple had set themselves the challenge of completing all parkruns on Forestry England land in the autumn to catch the best colours.

The advertised hill was not as bad as advertised, apart from the headwind which hit you at the top of the slope and was brutal.

Levengrove 13/12/2025 30:50 [85 / 140]. 

Quick trip up to Mary's sister for a Christmas present exchange and a chance to tick off another Scottish parkrun. Mary had been there before but only as a marshal at junior parkrun so it was a new event for both of us.

Three laps of the lovely Levengrove park with some undulations, lots of water (sandwiched between the Clyde and Leven rivers) and loads of dogs to make it interesting. 

It was a bit blowy but at least no rain. With thanks to all the marshals and especially the ones who got the short straws and the more exposed posts. 

Edinburgh 20/12/2025 29:22 [369 / 548]. 

We were picking up a friend from Edinburgh Airport on the Saturday, so it was an opportunity to tick off another Scottish parkrun. Edinburgh parkrun, outside Edinburgh and close to the airport, was the obvious choice and a very good decision. We booked ourselves an overnight stay in South Queensferry so we could do the parkrun, shower and change, then collect our friend and head home.

On arrival the first marshal we spoke to, Graham, recognised us from Salento where we met in September. It's a small parkrun world!

The first timers briefer explained that this was the first parkrun in Edinburgh and hence got the name, despite other later parkruns being much more central.

Out and back along the promenade with lovely views of the Forth bridges. A glorious day with no wind or rain and the sun even came out!

This is the Cramond Causway over to Cramond Island as seen from the picnic bench where we stopped for our post-parkrun coffees.

Strathclyde 27/12/2025 29:34 [369 / 548]. 

Dropping our friend back off at Edinburgh airport on Friday we went for another overnight stay this time with Mary's sister and another Scottish parkrun. Mary's sister Sandra had suggested Strathclyde as she knew from the 5K app that we needed one more "S" for our Snakes Challenge (complete 10 parkruns starting with "S").

A good flat course, a scenic out and back round a lake with swans and canoes. Great weather (no rain and only a little wind at the end).

Sandra power walks; this is her striding in at 41:26.

Mary coming in at a very respectable 46:57. The wind had picked up for her last km thence the hairstyle!

That's it 2025. Next: Parkrun Tourism Part 09 - 2025, Epilogue.