FRESH from Adventure Island sealing third place in TripAdvisor’s Choice Awards last week, we have decided to take a trip down memory lane and look back at when the popular theme park was known as Peter Pan’s Playground.

With dozens of thrilling rides on Southend seafront, Adventure Island’s forerunner will evoke warm childhood memories for many of us.

The theme park has developed and enhanced over the decades, with it now boasting more than 30 attractions.

Adventure Island started out in 1918 as the Sunken Gardens, a seaside garden that in the 1920s installed a handful of children’s rides.

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Next to another major seafront attraction - the theme park was built alongside the world-famous Southend Pier

Flanking Southend Pier, it has been an amusement park since 1976, when the land now forming the west side of the park was purchased by the Miller family.

The park was vastly expanded thanks to the land to the east of the pier being obtained in 1995.

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Making a splash - Peter Pan’s Playground boasted a fun log flume ride in March 1996 but the Raging River Log Flume has since been demolished

In 1999, the hugely popular rollercoaster Green Scream was launched and it was once described as the park’s signature ride.

This title now belongs to Rage, which welcomed its first thrillseekers in February 2007.

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Looking for an adrenaline rush - thrillseekers queue for Barracuda, which has since disappeared from the theme park, in March 1996

It is one of the biggest investments the park has made, with the ride - named Rage following an Echo competition - costing in the region of £3million and is located on the former Raging River Log Flume site.

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Rolling back the years - The Golden Hind, with its Chamber of Horrors, was still a popular Southend attraction back in 1992

The slogan is ‘For Superheroes only!’ which is said before the first drop of the rollercoaster.

In 2011, a crow built its nest at the top of the loop, which gathered national attention from tabloid newspapers.

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Old times - this snap of Peter Pan’s Playground in August 1975 shows Whip and The Crooked House, which remains hugely popular today

Adventure Island demolished the Pirate Boat – which was one of the oldest attractions – three years later to make way for a new soft play and indoor ride area, named Adventure Inside, which opened in spring 2015.

While the iconic Barracuda ride from the days of Peter Pan’s Playground has long since disappeared, the Crooked House remains a leading attraction and has provided joy for decades.

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Fun - youngsters enjoy their time on a water ride at Peter Pan’s Playground in June 1986

Join us on a trip down memory lane by joining our ‘We grew up in Essex’ Facebook group. If you have old photos and stories to share with our readers, simply complete our online form.

Scroll down to see more photos from the Echo archive.

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Wave - June Miller, wife of Peter Pan’s Playground owner David, tests one of the attractions in 1984

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On top of the world - a man enjoys his day out at one of the nation’s favourite theme parks in the 1970s

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Side-by-side - a man and woman walk their dog through Peter Pan’s Playground in 1986

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Ride of your life - revellers enjoy a rollercoaster ride in June 1986