Writers Block: Catch the train to ride the Bay Comedy Trail

Morecambe is steeped in comedic history. Of course we have our most famous son and daughter, Eric and Thora, (Now that would have been an interesting comedy duo). There was Albert Modley and at one time in her career Victoria Wood lived in the town (It's thought she wrote the "Two Soups" sketch after visiting Lubins cafe on the promenade). A fine comedy pedigree for any town.
In sight of the Eric Morecambe statue, just across the bay in Ulverston, another comedy genius was born - Stan Laurel. His fame was more international than our town's comics but his roots were just as humble.
All the people mentioned ensured they kept good links with their home towns even though they mostly lived away as they plied their trade around the UK and the world. One thing however does link them all; the fact Laurel and Hardy trod the boards of our Winter Gardens theater in May 1947. It would be good to know if some of our home grown comedians were there to watch them.
With all this in mind I decided to take the train around the bay to Ulverston and check out the Laurel and Hardy Museum, it had been many years since my last visit and at that time it was literally housed - in a house! After checking it out on the web it was pleasing to see the exhibition had been moved to a new venue in half of the town's Roxy cinema - very apt.
The train journey itself is a great experience, especially as when I traveled the weather was clear and sunny. First stop Carnforth, I'll have to visit the David Lean Brief Encounters experience and hopefully try out some cask ale in the Snug Bar at some point in the future. Silverdale and Arnside out of the way it was over the Kent viaduct, thankfully now re-opened after a major refit.
As the bay came into view in all its splendor the view across to Morecambe and the Bowland Fells beyond was magnificent, I even managed to see Blackpool Tower in the far distance. At Grange - over - Sands you get a perfect vista of the station flanked on one side by a green wall of conifers and on the other the bay. The station does look splendid in the sunshine.
You lose the view of the bay between Kents Bank and Cark but it reappears at the mouth of the Leven Estuary as you travel over another viaduct on the final stretch into Ulverston.
After a pub lunch in the Farmers Arms on Market Street (nothing to write home about) we made our way to the museum via the statue of the two funny men. It's situated just outside the Coronation Hall, a venue for concerts, exhibitions, meetings and the like. The obligatory photograph was taken like the many tourists you see at Eric's statue on the promenade in Morecambe.
The museum costs £5 to enter which I think is good value as you follow the story of Stan; from his early life in Ulverston to the theaters of the North East, Glasgow and finally to Hollywood where he eventually met up with Oliver. Films show all day as you wander through galleries housing personal and family effects, pictures and hundreds of items of memorabilia - an Aladdin's cave of cinema and Ulverston's history.
In an age of digital entertainment it would be easy to dismiss this type of exhibition as old hat, nothing but a nostalgia trip for sad old people - think again. When I watched a seven year old boy in absolute hysterics at the clumsy, bumbling and quite polished slapstick performance on screen by a fat man from Georgia and a thin man from Ulverston, I knew it was timeless comedy for any age. It also got me thinking that maybe Morecambe should have such a place to honour all the comedy greats that have lived or worked in our town instead of just talking about it. ( a previous plan for a Morecambe & Wise comedy museum/bar was shelved a few years ago).

Maybe, the journey I made could be a marketable asset to be lauded in future tourist guides.
Ulverston have done a fantastic job in linking the statue and the museum as well as the many artisan shops to bring in lots of tourist money into the area. A lesson surely our town's leaders should consider?

Getting There - I traveled with my wife and our return ticket from Lancaster on TransPennine Express's Manchester Airport to Barrow service cost £8.25 each. The journey only takes 35 minutes. (Download a timetable at www.tpexpress.co.uk)

Laurel and Hardy Museum - New opening times: 1st Apr - 1st Oct, 7 days a week - 10.00-1700 (last entry 16.30). 2nd Oct - 31st March, opening times variable, call or check website.
Tel: 01229 582292 - laurelandhardymuseum@gmail.com - www.laurel-and-hardy.co.uk
Prices - Adult £5, OAP £4, Family £10, Child £2.50