Coffee Posted July 9, 2013 Report Share Posted July 9, 2013 (edited) A friend rang me up early afternoon, her shift finished at the hospital, asking if I wanted to go anywhere. as it was to hot to sleep. We ended up in Chester but Pickmere lake came into my thoughts and I wished it was still open, As a family we used to go regulary, sometimes every day in the holidays as it was just a few minutes out of Warrington and. I have fond memories of Pickmere Lake, splashing around naked in the cold water, jumping off the little jetty on a warm day. Going out onto the lake in a boat my parents hired, we later had an inflatable and dad used to row out and we would have a picnic by the lake. Then their was a little fair, it wasn't big but it was kind of fun. I stopped by a year or so ago, it looks so sad now all lonelly and unused although I doubt if I get away with playing naked in the lake anymore if it were PS Corrected cut and paste errors Edited July 11, 2013 by Coffee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
francine Posted July 9, 2013 Report Share Posted July 9, 2013 Pickmere lake wow! Fond memories, picnics lots of fun,good times. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tracey Bennett Posted July 9, 2013 Report Share Posted July 9, 2013 I loved Pickmere Lake as a child, although we weren't allowed to swim in it, my Nan was convinced it was deadly and we'd all drown! Is the fair still there? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davy51 Posted July 9, 2013 Report Share Posted July 9, 2013 That was a good old weekend destination...i take there is no trace of the fair or the boats nowadays ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coffee Posted July 9, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 9, 2013 That was a good old weekend destination...i take there is no trace of the fair or the boats nowadays ? No fair, no boats. Although I believe it is still used for fishing and sailing but when I was there it was empty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dizzy Posted July 9, 2013 Report Share Posted July 9, 2013 Your mention of Pickmere Lake brings back some very happy memories Coffee. We used to go when we were young, there were 3 of us little urchins to keep occupied, and I remember the fairground rides being there although I don't think we ever went on the rides very often (if at all) but maybe we did and my dad will shout at me for forgetting now eek !! I remember going in my late teens/20+'s too as I was driving by then and so were my friends. I'm almost sure the fair rides were still there then. Happy and funny memories are all flooding back now and if I close my eyes I can see it like it was only yesterday. The fun we all had on the lake in boats (I seem to recall they had pedaloes there too at one time and we pretty much went round in circles laughing.) Maybe best not to mention a certain incident with a jet ski some years later though Cheers Coffee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suestandish Posted July 9, 2013 Report Share Posted July 9, 2013 I too spent many a happy weekend there in my teens, I went with my friends family who had one of the little lakeside chalets, we had a ball down there and we met our first boyfriends who both worked on the dodgems...happy days! I went there a few years back and everything was still up and running then, even the cafe was open. But what a sad state everywhere was in, whoever owns the site should revive it and bring it back to it's former glory. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tracey Bennett Posted July 10, 2013 Report Share Posted July 10, 2013 The town I live in now is based around a Mere, it's all frightfully tasteful and no-one's allowed to swim in it anymore (years ago there was a diving board). I was trying to explain Pick Mere Lake (a tautological place name if ever there was one) to my husband and children, how it was an actual tourist attraction with a fair, boats and we'd swim (or paddle in my case) in it. The kids were really shocked and wanted to know why we didn't just go to the beach! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Latchford Locks Posted July 10, 2013 Report Share Posted July 10, 2013 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coffee Posted July 10, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 10, 2013 Glad I am not the only ones with fond memories of the place, although I can not remember pedaloes or chalets! The place closed down 15 years ago when the pickmere lake company went into administration. I believe the CoOp bank owns some of the site now but I believe some of it has been sold for development. Sue why can you not swim in your mere? There are signs on PickMere Lake forbiding swiming but aparently your allowed to as the right to do so has been established over the years when it was open to the public, so I am told Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dizzy Posted July 10, 2013 Report Share Posted July 10, 2013 I don't remember the chalets being there either. As for the pedaloes maybe I'm wrong and you've got me thinking now but I can't think of anywhere else locally that we would have gone on them. That will bug me now. Pickmere Parish Council have a page about the history of the mere and it's really interesting. A fair had apparently been there since 1925. I don't think I would have been too keen on being in the water if I'd know about the huge pike in there EEK. See here... http://www.pickmere-pc.org.uk/local-info-indiv.php?id=71&name=A Brief History They also have some old photo's of the mere, fair and boats on their gallery page. Click to enlarge them See here http://www.pickmere-pc.org.uk/gallery.php?cat=Historical Pickmere Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tracey Bennett Posted July 10, 2013 Report Share Posted July 10, 2013 Sue why can you not swim in your mere? Do you mean me? 'Elf and Safety - a person drowned once so swimming was banned altogether. We also have blue green algae now which doesn't help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davy51 Posted July 10, 2013 Report Share Posted July 10, 2013 I used to be a regular there in childhood ,when i was dutifully dragged along to see an elderly relative ....she used to live in a prefab bungalow in a field to one side of & higher up than the fair ground. There were maybe half a dozen of these bungalows which may be getting confused as chalets. They were all fully inhabited with all mod cons for the 60s but with cess pit toilets that were usually very ripe.I remember the only son of the neighbour of my elderly relative was tragically drowned due to a boating accident on the lake. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coffee Posted July 10, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 10, 2013 Do you mean me? 'Elf and Safety - a person drowned once so swimming was banned altogether. We also have blue green algae now which doesn't help! yes sorry i meant you Tracey. Thanks Dizz, interesting links, I was wondering what happened to the boat, shame! I think I need to go swimming in the lake again! Wonder what happened to the trucks that powered the rides, I have never been attacked by a pike in Pickmere though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dizzy Posted July 10, 2013 Report Share Posted July 10, 2013 I have never been attacked by a pike in Pickmere though. There's a first time for everything. I've seen how big pike's mouths and teeth are so you can count me out if you ever organise a 'remember how we used to do this' fun day in/on the water there Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suestandish Posted July 10, 2013 Report Share Posted July 10, 2013 Davy Last time I was there, the only one that had been demolished was the one we stayed in, I'll see if my friend still has any old photo's and if so I will put up on here. Further to the lake itself, we were always told it was bottomless.....old wives tale I'm sure....that was to frighten us from going swimming in it. Just contacted my friend and she said they were "prefabs" and yes, people did live in them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cleopatra Posted July 11, 2013 Report Share Posted July 11, 2013 Seems so many of us have memories of Pickmere Lake. Many Sundays my sister would call me and tell me that she and her family were going for a drive out there and asked if I wanted to go with them. We would take a picnic and spend many hours there. Oh so wonderful a time we would have. Do you realise that we could have all seen each other there at some time or other so many years ago, without having an inkling that at sometime in the distant future we would be discussing our visits on WWW? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DS Posted July 11, 2013 Report Share Posted July 11, 2013 The boats and the funfair were run by the Cheetham family and I went to school with Brian Cheetham. In my teens I used to cycle to Pickmere most weekends in the summer and spent a lot of time at the fair. If Brian was running the Dodgems we often got free rides! There was also a roundabout called, I think, the Noah's Ark, with various animals to ride on. It was, as I recall, quite a scary ride and not really suitable for young children. But we made it more scary by changing animals during the ride! There was a Fun House, with a juke box which played old 78rpm records. I remember flogging "Dragnet" by the Ray Anthony orchestra to death which was rather silly really as I had the record at home as well. I took my grandchildren to see Pickmere a couple of years ago and found, as others have, the place deserted and silent and rather sad. I spoke to a local resident who said they are always meeting people who come back to their childhood haunt and go away rather sad. But I suppose for the people who live there, it is a lot more peaceful now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davy51 Posted July 11, 2013 Report Share Posted July 11, 2013 After further dredging of the memory, i recall that on our visits to the elderly relative we used to access the field where the bungalows were via Platt's farm then through a farm gate into the field which was pasture & usually filled with cows & what they left behind ! We always used to get the impression that visitors were not really welcome even though the farmer wanted his rent from his tenants. I know we sometimes got free dodgem rides because my Dad knew one of the blokes that sometimes worked at weekend. Back in the days when no one had heard of holidays abroad . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suestandish Posted July 11, 2013 Report Share Posted July 11, 2013 Does anyone remember Terry and Kenny who worked on the fair? Both teddy boyish and rode motor bikes, this was around 1963/64. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coffee Posted July 11, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 11, 2013 I never got any free rides!!! As for swimming in the lake, it used to fall away really quickly and I recall that markers used to mark were it got deep quickly by the field where everyone parked their cars. There used to big rocks around the lake in many places and I always thought it might have been a quarry of some sort at some time I am told the Pickmere Boating Company was aquired as part of a plan to creat a golf course, when it was refused the Pickmere Boating Company was put into administration, how true this is I am not sure. I am sure there was a plan to build a leisure lake near Rixton a few years ago, now if the developers of that project are reading this, may I suggest Pickmere! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob@robcharles.com Posted June 2, 2020 Report Share Posted June 2, 2020 Take a look at my video that I made. I loved Pickmere Lake with the Fun Fare & arcades. My Mum & Dad first took me there in the 1970 when we lived in Northwich. My Dad was Bakery Manager at Robert's Bakery. https://youtu.be/R6COzV6ChiY Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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