JoshC. Posted March 2, 2013 Report Share Posted March 2, 2013 I recently acquired a relatively old book about Thorpe Park, published in 1981. Entitled 'The Book of the Park', this is one book you can judge by its cover - it covers the park in great detail as it was. Of course, in 1981 the park had only been open for a couple of years, and so the place is completely unrecognisble. With this book being older than a large number of members here, whilst it's highly unlikely to bring any memories back to anyone here, it's still an interesting look. The book itself is 130 pages long and in full colour. I don't know if it was avaliable on park as something to buy, something that was used locally as 'advertising' and given away fro free or what. But as I say, it's still interesting, goes into a lot of detail and some great photos. Here's a few pages I've scanned up: The front cover. Contents pages. The beginning of the 'An adventure in leisure' section, which introduces the park. The 1981 'map'. Each 'section' of the book has it's own 2-page introductory spread, with a brief overview and nice drawings like this. Model World was a huge point for the park. A bit on the waterbuses, which gives a nice view of the dome from the entrance bridge. Speaking of the dome, or as it was known then, the Mountbatten Pavilion, here's a 2 page spread on it! A bit of info on what fun things there are to do. The photo in the bottom right is particularly striking to me. Cinema 180 was the 'new thing' for the park in 1981, though it is completed unrelated to the 4D cinema and was situated somewhere in what we know as the Lost City area now I think. The final page gives this particular beautiful sight of the dome. I think if we were to look at this angle this year, we'd be seeing The Crash Pad. That's all for the time being! I do hope to scan more pages up, especially the introductions to each section, but I thought that these were some of the most interesting ones to look up. If anyone has any specific pages they'd like to see, just say. I can't guarantee I'll get them up right away, as the scanners at uni are pretty slow and clunky to be honest, but I will get round to them. pluk, UnderItAll and Mark9 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam P Posted March 2, 2013 Report Share Posted March 2, 2013 I have a copy of this and it is quite amazing just how much the park has changed with the exception of the Dome still being in place, nothing remains now! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noob230 Posted March 2, 2013 Report Share Posted March 2, 2013 I found a copy of this at my local charity shop - It's so fascinating how pretty much the only original thing left is The Dome Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RideAddict Posted March 2, 2013 Report Share Posted March 2, 2013 Isn't the Dome a listed building now? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fred Posted March 3, 2013 Report Share Posted March 3, 2013 Bloody hope not - why would it be? It's just a pre-fab 70s-80s style leisure centre building. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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