Hull Fair

So, at long last, we reach Hull Fair which in one form or another has been going on for 720 or so years and is the largest travelling fair in Europe. Apart from this year bringing with it typical Hull Fair weather, cold, wet and windy the fair seemed to my delicate ears to be the loudest ever with every ride turning up the volume to 11. Here's a selection taken at dusk, the fair goes on till late at night but as I think I've mentioned before I'm not allowed out after dark ....

So that's Hull Fair over for another year.

Archilenses and Tuesday Market Place

We can't stay in Tuesday Market Place forever as there's lots more to see but before leaving there's just time to show this quirky installation. It called an archilens, there's apparently two of them though to be honest I only saw this one. (The other is by the Ouse and is just about visible in the middle of  this picture. I did not notice until I read up about it) It's pretty clear what it is and what it does ("Glass panels with inlaid magnifying lenses ... which distort and change the images of the Tuesday Market Place and the Ouse, producing new and exciting views.") so I won't go on.

And before we bid a final farewell to Tuesday Market Place a word about this space which serves as a car park for most of the time but from Valentine's Day each year this place is given over to the King's Lynn Mart, a two week funfair which "pulsates with the sound of loud music, screaming youngsters and whirling machines". This is the first fair in the showmen's guild calendar (Hull Fair is the last). This year was the 814th fair and they don't look as if they're going to stop any time soon. Being in February, Mart weather has entered into the local vocabulary as shorthand for nithering with showers of sleet and snow, Hull Fair weather used to be similar (cold, wet and autumnal) but recently climate changes have meant Hull Fair is balmy, almost muggy (Ew!!). Finally , finally there may even be a market held here on Tuesday's ... who knows; I was here on a Saturday.

Going to the Fair

So this is Hull Fair week, as I may have mentioned, and for a change I went via a new (to me) route across the rail tracks and scrub land that lies behind the KC football stadium. When the stadium was built this path was also put in to take visiting supporters directly from the rail/bus station to the ground and isolate them as much as possible from the city, much in the manner that Hull treated European emigrants passing through the city in the 19th century, that is as if they carry some contagious disease. It's a frankly stupid policy of shuttling thousands of visitors to the city in and out as quickly as possible when with a bit of guile they could be persuaded to bide a while in the town and perhaps spend a bit of money, but clearly Hull doesn't need their money. 

Anyhow once you're over this bridge the Fair hoves into view along with some spectacular giant Hogweeds, some six or seven foot tall and really rather splendid among the scrubby unkempt landscape. Quite what visitors to Hull make of this I don't know but I rather like it. Then there's one more little bridge to cross and you reach the KC stadium itself, the Fair is just on the other side of this.

Hull Fair Rides Again

Photo by Margot K Juby

It's that time of year again when a car park in west Hull is taken over by the biggest travelling fair in the country. It's the week of Hull Fair again, just as noisy, bright and brash as ever, just as crowded as well. This year more folk than ever have crammed into the place, so many the police had to close the street off at one point last weekend. I don't much like the thing itself but, as Margot reminds me every year when I moan about going, it marks the passing of the seasons, autumn can begin now the Fair is here.

The weekend in black and white is here.

Hull Fair

The second week in October brings Hull Fair. One of the largest travelling fairs in Europe. It lasts a week and brings with it attendant problems of traffic and petty crime and fun. Many hundreds of thousands of visitors are take in the delights. I'm told it looks good at night with all the rides and lights and so on; but that's past my bedtime so I'm not allowed to go.
Usually Hull Fair brings with it bad weather, rain and winds; known locally as Hull Fair weather, I think it's a pun ....

  

King's Lynn Mart

I mentioned in a post a while back that every year on Valentines Day the Tuesday Market in King's Lynn becomes fun fair for a fortnight or so. When I first heard about this I wondered how they could squeeze a fun fair into a small town square but fit it in they did and have done for centuries so I'm not one to speak...

This year's Mart was shorter than usual due to Council works needing to be done or some such excuse. We caught it on Thursday evening when it seemed a bit deserted and again on Friday afternoon when it was full of screaming kids as fun fairs ought to be. 

The Mart marks the start of the year for those involved in fairground entertainment, the year ends with Hull Fair. It would otiose to compare this neat compact attraction with the sprawling noisy brash thing that sprouts out on Walker Street each October.

Oh yes, I should mention in case you haven't noticed that I've been to King's Lynn for a few days so expect posts from Norfolk for the time being.

The rotating arm thing was visible for miles as you approach the town.

By Sunday evening it had all gone; no sign it was ever here but it'll be back next year.

Some of the fun of the Fair

The last time we went to Hull Fair properly, as it were, was so long ago that digital cameras hadn't even been thought of. So, thinking that it might be another thirty years or so before we return, we perhaps overdid it by taking some 700 shots between us some of which turned out OK. We arrived during the 'Happy Hour' meant for families with young children when some of the rides are half price. I have to say that I not a great fan of crowds or loud, no, not loud, louder than loud, noise (couldn't call it music) that you don't so much hear as feel viscerally as it thumps through the thoracic cavity. Nor do flashing lights and those green beams of 'laser' lights have any great appeal. After a while, though, a morbid fascination takes over and we stayed for an hour and half leaving as many more were arriving and the party could really get going. This is the 722nd Hull Fair and it closes tonight at midnight, so get your skates on ...

Margot caught this rather tired looking customer.

Really crowded

Hull Fair

It's that time of year again, when Europe's largest travelling fair parks itself in west Hull for a week. It's as popular as ever and as ever there's dozens of food stalls in case the fairgoers should get peckish, choose from burgers, candy floss, chips, donuts and kingsize hotdogs and much else. The big handsome doggy is called Lou and seems to be a regular at the fair.

Hull Fair and all the fun thereof

Round and round it comes again the Autumnal forced fun fest. Hull Fair, centuries old, seemingly never changing and just as noisy, smelly and tedious as ever.

At least old Balou was still there and not remotely impressed by all the goings on.

All pictures by Margot K Juby 'cos I had a bad foot and was in no mood to take pictures of this stupid thing, I just tweaked them a tad.

Hull Fair

It's the week of Hull Fair again. Never seems to change, stalls selling boiled sugary treats, rides to spin you round and up and down and bright lights; oh and loud, very loud music. Thousands come every year so it must be doing something right.

 Galloping Horses, a vintage roundabout built by Frederick Savage of King's Lynn.

 A modern roundabout on hyperdrive!

Hull Fair again

So another year has passed and it's Hull Fair once again and as last year was so exciting we decided to try it again. But as the old Greek says you cannot step into the same river twice it was not so fun filled this second time around. Still we took far too many pictures and stayed a good deal longer than we were intending.

Frederick Savage

One thing that I did not see at the Mart was a roundabout with horses, folk are more interested in being put at the end of a vertical centrifuge and spun up above the chiminey tops than going round and round and up and down on wooden horses accompanied by steam powered organ music. 

Times and fashions change but once upon time steam powered galloping horses, invented by this guy, Frederick Savage, were all the rage. I read that showmen could make close on a hundred pounds a day from penny rides on one of these machines; that's old pennies, 240 to the pound. He sold his contraptions around the world spreading dizzy fun while making a small fortune.

Frederick Savage became mayor of Lynn three times (a veritable Dick Whittington) and died in 1897. This statue was erected in 1892 paid for by showmen and the people of Lynn. He was clearly much liked as a banquet was held in his honour.

After his death the works nearly went under and were only saved by being bought up by local firms. Steam engines were not the way of the future, at least not for farm work or fair grounds. The last Savage roundabout I saw was at Hull Fair several years ago, I don't think any are left in active service, they are all museum pieces. The factory in Lynn where Savage made his machines is now a tame arcade of shops. 

This statue has him in mayoral ceremonial garb giving a priestly benefaction to all who pass. It stands, as it always has done, on London Road close to the South Gate.

By way of postscript; while going through the papers of Margot's late mother I found that her house, off Loke Road a stone's throw from the old Savage works, was built on land sold off by Mr Savage's widow in 1898. 

All the fun of the Fair ...

Early October in this town can mean only one thing: Hull Fair. Yes it's that time of year again when the air is filled with the distant rumble of machinery, extremely loud music and the faint aroma of burnt cow meat and onions wafts across from Walton Street. So here's a small selection of shots from the other night. I seem to have left my colours at home so you'll have to use your imagination...