MOVING to Blackpool is like a home from home for Pleasure Beach newcomer Rick Zeckman.
For the amiable American, who has joined the fun park as group operations director, comes straight from Myrtle Beach, home of the Pavilion Amusement Park.
And having played a major part in improving the South Carolina attraction he is looking forward to doing more of the same in the North-West.
The father-of-two told the Citizen: "Myrtle Beach has many similarities with Blackpool. It is also a tourist resort, geared towards holidays with 12 million visitors a year.
"However, the Pleasure Beach is distinctive in that it is a national park, not just a regional park for locals. It has a tremendous assortment of rides. I don't think anyone could go out and build a park like this."
Rick's position in the company includes supervising the operating areas of the Pleasure Beach, Pleasureland in Southport and Frontierland, Morecambe, with the exception of catering and live entertainment.
And it's a role he is looking forward to.
"I'm not a formal person, which fits in well with working in a park," he said.
"This is a business of bringing fun to people. It doesn't feel like a real job to me - more like a big adventure."
Rick has a great deal of admiration for the region's tourism industry, saying: "The three parks cover the majority of the North-West's tourist coast and they all have great potential.
"Also the Illuminations are a tremendous investment and whoever is responsible for nurturing this has done a good job.
"One thing I have noticed though, is that the south of England hasn't discovered what Blackpool is. There seems to be a theoretical dividing line.
"That is a goal for the tourism industry - to get the south to realise there is a lot more in the north than cathedrals and museums."
Rick is settling down in Blackpool well, though so far he has only seen Blackpool Tower and the Magic of Coronation Street, but misses his wife and family who are still in the States.
And he has just one reservation about moving to Britain for the first time - the roads. "I'm never sure which way to look," he said.
Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
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