Couple light up Blackpool Tower in UK’s biggest gender reveal to date

Blackpool Tower has been lit up pink in the UK’s largest gender reveal to date.

Having waited since their 20-week scan in March to find out the sex of their baby, Nick Easton and Amberleigh Duckworth discovered the news in grand style alongside friends, family and anyone else with a view of the town’s famous landmark.

The child’s name-to-be, Harperleigh Jade Easton, also ran through the tower’s heart symbol.

Ms Duckworth, a senior residential care worker in a children’s home, said: “With everything that has happened over the past year with Covid-19, we wanted to do something very special that our family and friends could look forward to.”

She said they had asked staff at their ultrasound scan not to tell them the gender and to instead put it in a sealed envelope, was then shared with the tower’s lighting team.

“It was a very hard, but exciting, car journey home, knowing what was in the envelope and knowing we were about to just hand it over to someone else to find out before us,” she said.

Mr Easton, an inspection engineer in the theme park industry, added: “Obviously, with the restrictions on numbers allowed to gather, we wanted to wait until we could have as many people as possible to celebrate the event with us, even if this meant us waiting an extra eight and a half weeks to find out.

“But when the lights went on it was well worth that wait!”

The couple organised the event with Blackpool Council and paid a fee for the lights to be reprogrammed in pink.

Paul Burnett from the council, who organised the lighting programme on behalf of the couple, said: “It was pretty nerve-wracking knowing that I was party to such precious information, but it was a pleasure to be able to light up the Blackpool Tower for such a unique celebration.”