GENERATIONS of children have enjoyed it, but now health and safety inspectors say a ride at Felixstowe's funfair is no longer a fairground attraction.The inspectors have closed the "cake walk" in the Crazy House after 72 years of operation because it does not meet current safety regulations.

GENERATIONS of children have enjoyed it, but now health and safety inspectors say a ride at Felixstowe's funfair is no longer a fairground attraction.

The inspectors have closed the "cake walk" in the Crazy House after 72 years of operation because it does not meet current safety regulations.

But no-one has ever had an accident on the moving walkway, which dates back to the days when funfair visitors gained their thrills from gallopers, big wheels, helter skelters and chair-o-planes.

Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta famously cavorted on a cake walk as they sung You're The One That I Want in the film Grease.

Charles Manning, owner of Charles Manning's Amusement Park said: "It's a real shame but we have had to close it and it will no longer run.

"The inspectors were worried there was a risk that someone could fall underneath the cake walk and be injured, and they said it no longer met the health and safety regulations.

"It has been part of the park for 72 years and no-one has ever had an accident on it. It's believed to be the last one of its type in existence."

The rest of the Crazy House in Sea Road is allowed to operate as usual, and added to the rides and attractions at the fair this year is Europe's biggest inflatable, a bouncy fairground for youngsters to enjoy.

Mr Manning said: "It gets harder and harder each year to please the inspectors and find rides which the youngsters will find interesting.

"We cannot compete with the big inland theme parks, Chessington, Alton Towers, or Pleasurewood Hills here in Suffolk, and offer the youngsters who want those thrills those sorts of rides.

"Our customers are now the pre-teens, the young families, and I think that's the way Felixstowe needs to promote itself – as a place for young families with the sea and beach, a variety of things to do and different attractions.

"We are Ipswich-on-Sea to a large extent, but people do come from further afield and we need to keep making the point that we are a resort and not just a port to bring visitors here."

The park had to abandon its Maundy Thursday free rides session for the first time because the schools had not broken up, but was opening for the season over Easter.

n. What do you think of the cake walk being taken away? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN or email eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk