Switched On Stories

The Lights of Leamington festival began in 1951, as Leamington Spa was emerging from post-war gloom. Rationing was still in place, and a few years earlier the streets of Leamington were lit by gas lamps. As the decade wore on, the town witnessed some extraordinary social changes. So, grab a partner, put on your best outfit, and get ready to dance to the tune of the big bands playing by the lake, or learn to jive to the a strange new sound coming from America – Rock and Roll.

What is your very first memory? For many of our contributors – it was walking around the festival of lights in Leamington Spa, at some point in mid-century Britain. In this episode, we remember what it was like to see something for the first time through the eyes of a child. Most of the children went to the lights with their parents, who lived through the war and perhaps had darker stories to tell. Come with us, as we relive a 1950s childhood.

We speak to people who’ve lived in Leamington for almost their entire lives, but their families came from much further afield. Jim and Maria’s families came from Ireland, while Dalbir was born in the Punjab, in India. Dalbir had never seen electricity before, so her visit to the lights was a magical experience. For Jim, the lights represented a sense of progress and civic pride, while Maria remembers how fortunate she felt to show relatives from Ireland around the festival.

In 1951, as Britain emerged from post-war gloom and darkness, the good people of Leamington Spa decided to hold a festival of light. It ran for ten years, and this podcast charts its history through the voices of those who remember it. Join us as we travel back in time to post-war Britain and witness a decade of extraordinary change. Many of those who were at the lights as children are in their 80s now, and it wasn’t easy to track them down. So how did we do it – and why?

Come with us on a journey around the Jephson Gardens, as we re-imagine the Lights of Leamington. We wander past dancing fountains, cityscapes, fairytale tableaux and enjoy the sounds of the musicians tuning up on the lake. Above all, in this episode we celebrate the achievement of those who had the vision to put on the festival, and bring just that little bit of extra joy to peoples’ lives.