Twist ride passengers at amusement park fairground riders or travelling fair in motion with blurred figures
The first Twist rides to be built in the UK were manufactured by Edwin Hall under licence from US company Eli Bridge. Hall had a contract to build 6 machines for the Butlins camps in 1959/60, and produced a grasscutter design similar to the robust Eli machines that would later be imported into the UK. Hall followed this with a flood of machines built for travelling showmen, and the Twist was an instant hit in the UK. Such a success that it can be reckoned that Twist rides have been built consistently for over 40 years in this country, with no sign of the trend abating a consequence of this intense production (and importing) is the difficulty created in untangling an accurate history of the ride. The original theming and nomenclature, based first upon a contemporary dance craze and later on climatic freak occurrences, has remained with the ride throughout this time, with an influx of 'Sizzlers' arriving in the 1980s, only to be ousted by a return to (a variation on) the original name in the 1990s the 'Twister' happening to coincide with a film of the same name about a bunch of maverick hurricane hunters, complete with scenes of cows dropping from the skies! The Hall design was a standard 12-car 'grasscutter' model, and the Butlins machines proved a success in the camps, with machines presnt until recent years. It is debatable when the term grasscutter emerged - possibly in later years with the arrival of the platform Twists to distinguish the old from the new - but the implications of the name are obvious. Another early name for these Twists, popularised by Butlins, was 'Merry Mixer'. The first Twist built for a showman went to John Hoadley in 1960 this made an early appearance at Hull Fair sharing a debut with the UK's first Upright Paratrooper, but spent most of its time in Whitley Bay. John Scarrott bought this machine in 1983, and it was then sold to Terry Wright in the Scottish section.
Size: 5109px × 3318px
Photo credit: © Mar Photographics / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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