The Fair

A Memory of Thorne.

The fair arrived annually in June and was eagerly awaited. It was split between three sites in the town. The Market Square, then an open space with stalls only on market day, had as its main attraction what was variously known as a Noah's Ark or a Speedway ride - presuably depending on the ratio of animals to motorbikes available to ride. Outside the Yorkshire Penny Bank was the pitch of the Cake Walk - much squealing for two pence. In between were round stalls of slot machines at a penny or half penny a go - the public had to be offered the chance to spend its money no matter how small.
The second site was The Green. Again the old pump was dismantled for the event and a set of dodgems was erected outside the Red Bear. Other stalls lined the Green up towards Trimmingham's.
The main site was the Fairfield where the big items were to be found. Over the years these would change with fashion, but included another Speedway, Waltzers, Flying Chairs, Swing Boats, maybe another set of Dodgems and plenty of slot machines as well as the ice cream and candy floss that were associasted with fairs the world over. The one drawback of the Fairfield was the unsurfaced nature of the site which meant that in a bad summer it could get very muddy. I seem to recall pony rides being offered between the Fairfield and The Green . What a pity we didn't all have cameras or mobile phones to record the fun of the fair