The name Illawalla is etched into Fylde history

The big house on the road between Skippool and Thornton was a popular night spot before it was demolished in 1996.

The story of Illawalla an extraordinary house near Blackpool. The people who lived there and the tragedies that affected them. The author, who lived at Illawalla, reputedly the biggest bungalow in Europe, for over 20 years, tells of an extraordinary spiritual experience, as well as a near death experience. He tells what it is like to suffer the death of his mother in terrible circumstances, the death of his sister, the disappearance of another sister, the death of a best friend next to him in a car crash, and the loss of two partners to cancer, one after a visit to John of God in Brazil. He tells of the tragic effect on his father, of being a Dunkirk survivor, and of being one of the first troops into Belsen in April 1945. He relates the story of his grandfather, Sir Frederick Emery, and his rise from poverty in Wigan, his creation of a cinema empire, and his political career through the Abdication and the War.