Cheryl Sedgwick was born at Poulton-Le-Fylde in 1984 and went to Hodgson High School.

I have lived in Blackpool since my birth (eighteen years ago) and so much has changed in that short space of time. I remember things such as going for a ride on the donkeys on the beach with the pollution strewn all over the beach (not much different to now in that respect) and going down the seafront in an open top tram.

I also remember things such as the fire at the fun house in the pleasure beach and the construction of the now world-famous big one roller coaster as well as the switch-on's of many years of the Blackpool illuminations by stars such as Chris de Burg, Steps, the Spice Girls and Red Rum.

I recall too the old easy link busses that were in danger of falling apart as you sat on them and the now very posh new double deckers they have. There was the old John Lewis's store where we went to see Santa at Christmas. The building has since become Pricebusters.

I remember the old Woolworth's before it moved to Bank Hey Street and the demise of the department stores such as Debenhams. I also recollect the villages of over Wyre such as Hambleton and out Rawcliffe having only gas and no electric (oh how times have changed).

Walking along the piers was a joy when I was little, before they built the new big wheel on central pier; and I recall the now Hilton Hotel when it was the Pembroke Hotel and Derby Baths (after which it became the Stakis before becoming the Hilton).

So much has changed over the past two decades; I wonder what will change over the next two?

Cheryl Sedgwick, Blackpool, 2002