Dismaland Bemusement Park which has been open since the middle of August in the derelict and neglected old swimming pool on Weston-super-Mare seafront, has been a great success. When my family first moved to Weston in the late 1960’s, the pool, built in 1937, was open and popular with tourists and residents alike. Young people would gather there after school and through the summer holidays, enjoying themselves with their friends. it was a great attraction to holiday makers too. However even then it was beginning to look a little sorry; the ‘P’ had dropped off so it said The Ool. It was rebranded as the Tropicana with all sorts of gimmicks including hugge tropical fruit, but it closed at the turn of the millennium and has fallen into a sad and sorry decline ever since.
The artist Banksy, known chiefly for his graffiti, but does much more than just that, installed his Bemusement Park in secret in the Tropicana, the old Ool. There are many different attractions, but there are also some interesting pieces of wall art; visiting just once isn’t enough to see everything and I would love to go again, but tickets are sold out as soon as they come on sale.
Seagulls squabbling over a fish… how many fish are left in our seas?
This comment is sadly familiar to artists and writers, and must have been throughout the ages…
This wall art speaks for itself, screening the toilets
Lois Elsden 