ONCHAN IN THE SIXTIES

It was during the 1960s that cheap package holidays to Spain began, there was also an increase in manmade fabrics which saw many of the cotton mills of the north of England close and the decline and end of "Wakes Weeks" where a whole town would close down for a week and the people would come on holiday to the Isle of Man.

Onchan had its share of visitors with guest house accommodation in Imperial Terrace, Belgravia Road, Royal Avenue West, Royal Terrace and Falkland Drive, then there were hotels such as The Howstrake Golf Links Hotel, the Douglas Bay Hotel and the Majestic Hotel with its ballroom and swimming pool. In addition there was the Howstrake Holiday Camp which could accommodate 500 campers in its chalets on the hillside overlooking Groudle.

At the beginning of the decade the Commissioners were still developing Onchan Park and the stadium was used on three nights of the week throughout the summer for motorcycle gymkhanas and athletics meetings. In the middle of the decade Dowtys brought employment to Onchan when they opened their factory in School Road and Manx Radio began broadcasting from a field alongside Hillberry Road.

By the end of the decade three huge building estates had been commenced at Birch Hill, Ballachurry and Lakeside Gardens. The Commissioners were actively involved in the Birch Hill development having bought the farm and laying the land out in building plots, installing roads and sewers. The building boon of this time saw them being able to sell the remaining plots which they had laid out at Ballachrink in the 1950s.

This section of photographs, taken from the commissioners' archives help us to remember those years or if we are fortunate enough to have not even been born when Tommy Steele had a hit with Little White Bull or the Mods and Rockers were battling it out at Brighton then this section will help to understand how Onchan has developed.

This gallery is in four parts:

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Gallery 4