These pictures of Marine Lake Fun Fair are from the collection of Rhyl Library, Church Street. They appeared in the book ‘Rhyl At The Fun Fair’ by Eric Hughes, which was published in 2001 and is out of print but can be seen in the library’s reference department.The photograph at the top was taken in the 1930s on the Oakland Avenue side of the lake and looking towards the sea. The Bowlslide was built by engineer Albert Barnes, the originator of Rhyl's fun fairs. Eric says, "Customers ascended in chairs and then descended on mats down a one-a-half-turn helter skelter ending in a bowl.” The slide further away on the left edge of the photo is Shooting The Rapids (another mat slide).
The lower photo was taken in the 1940s looking in the opposite direction towards the mainline railway. The ride partially in view bottom right is Leaping Lena. Eric says this was a round ride of jeep-like cars; two wheels on each were eccentric causing the car to jump up and down. Foreground left is a kiddies’ ride named The Chariot which had miniature ‘horse-drawn’ chariots on a slowly revolving platform.
The big white structure looming large in both pictures is the Figure Eight Rollercoaster built in 1920 by Mr. Barnes where it stood, and there it stayed until the fun fair was moved off the Marine Lake site at the end of the 1960s.
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