ORGANIST

When the 518ft Blackpool Tower opened it cost a sixpence to enter. Now admission is free. Organist Chris has been behind the famous Wurlitzer for 25 years.

He says: “I came here as a kid and I saw this organ and knew straight away that’s what I wanted to do.”

When he left school he worked as a lorry driver for Kellogg’s but used to pay a fiver to go into the Manchester Free Trade Hall to practise on their organ.

“I taught myself. In my dinner hour I used to park up the truck and hire the organ for an hour,” he says.

Soon Chris’s name was put forward as a temporary organist for the tower – and he has never looked back. Chris says: “You can go from playing Strauss to Elvis in a couple of

The glass skywalk found at the top of the Blackpool Tower Eye can hold the weight of two elephants. minutes. I love my job – it is the Tower Ballroom, the most iconic ballroom in the world.

“The people who come here are amazing. Doing my job I give so much joy to everyone every day.

“You get regulars who come two or three times a week and we get to know what dances they like. They are lovely people and are from a bygone time – you didn’t chat a girl up on Facebook, you had to ask her face to face.”

And he has seen more than his fair share of romances blossom on the famous floor.

“You get a lot of widows and widowers who come here and then find romance a second time around.

“I have seen it so many times and it is lovely to see. The ballroom dancing provides companionship and helps them get over loneliness.”

Couples such as Marilyn and Keith Birchall, who met at the ballroom and

Charlie Cairoli, one of the most recognisable names in the circus industry, was the resident clown at The Blackpool Tower Circus between 1939 and 1979. asked Chris to play on their wedding day there 14 years ago.

Marilyn, 73, and Keith, 77, from Lancaster, both used to come to the ballroom to dance with their first husband and wife.

After their partners passed away they continued to come with friends to keep the memories alive.

Marilyn says: “I’d been coming here with my first husband Howard since the 70s, and Keith and his wife Eileen started in the 80s. We all knew each other in passing.

“But when our husband and wife passed away we still kept coming. I was supposed to be meeting a friend of mine one day, but he was late. So I got chatting to Keith instead and it went from there. We come here two or three times a week and we just love it. It keeps us fit.”

The pair spent their wedding day at the ballroom – with Chris playing their special requests.

Marilyn laughs: “We got married at the register office at 9am so we could make the most of our day in the ballroom. We stayed until 11pm.”

Marilyn and Keith aren’t the only ones to start married life in the Tower. The attraction hosts around 10 weddings each year – either in the b at th th

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Chris Hopkins has played for 25 years The Blackpool Tower Ballroom has hosted Strictly Come Dancing’s Blackpool Special nine times. Celebrities such as Stacey Dooley, Alexandra Burke, Ed Balls and Ore Marilyn and Keith Birchall met at Tower Oduba have all graced the famous sprung dancefloor. The Blackpool Tower has never missed a circus season in 125 years, even during the two world wars. Alan Locke & Maureen Carr That’s well over 45,000 shows, which equates to more than 10 years of back-to-back performing. Funnyman Peter Kay comedy special Live At The Tower in the Blackp Circus ring. It is this per back in 2000, that gain mainstream media atte helped set him on his jo television stardom.

Ian and Bev met 25yrs ago

An entertainer at the Tower