THE glitz from Adventure Island and the huge multi-coloured lighting columns along Southend’s Marine Parade are a welcoming sight for day-trippers to our seafront.

But who remembers our grand illuminations, usually switched on to a trumpet fanfare at the end of the town’s carnival procession?

The event culminated in a huge fireworks display. Families would line Marine Parade as the mayor and a celebrity – usually a soap star – would flick the switch to turn on the seafront illuminations to extend the summer season.

The Golden Mile, up to and including the Kursaal, would be adorned with thousands of twinkling lights which proved to be a real draw for day-trippers just after the summer season.

Over the years, the illuminations have been switched on by actress Tamsin Outhwaite, who at the time played Mel in EastEnders, Helen Worth – Gail in Coronation Street – and Isla Fisher, a now very successful Australian actress who starred in Home and Away. The late Wendy Richard – who played Pauline in EastEnders – also drew the crowds.

At one point, the event was thought to have attracted 3 million visitors per year.

Darkness fell on the seafront in 2007 despite decades of success and has been superceded by Blackpool’s event – which ironically initially used second-hand bulbs from Southend.