3-087-065 - Ware in the World/Heritage Images

Festival of Britain, Battersea, London, c1951. Boating lake and John Collins' Big Dipper. In 1951 the northern parts of Battersea Park in South London were transformed into the Festival Pleasure Gardens as part of the Festival of Britain celebrations. A part of the transformation was the addition of Battersea Funfair, with roller coasters, swings, roundabouts and other attractions. The funfair's leading attraction was the roller coaster ride, known as The Big Dipper. It was of wooden construction and suffered a major fire in 1970. It was closed after five children were killed and 13 injured in the Battersea Park funfair disaster on 30 May 1972 when one of the trains became detached from the haulage rope, rolling back to the station (the anti-rollback mechanism having failed) and colliding with the other train.