Alresford Fair

Legend has it that the origins of Alresford Fair stem from a Charter of 1242 given by Henry III ratified and endorsed by other monarchs over the centuries.  The regulations below I think date more recently.  They say that if the fair is not held then the right to hold it will cease forever.  That seems rather harsh.

The fair was a part of my childhood.  My parents house happened to be in Broad Street where it is held every year.  The fair lasts for only one afternoon and evening - it has to be all cleared away by the following morning.  So on the day there is much activity in setting the stalls up.  We had a prime view of the backs of the stalls and rides out of our front room window.  What intrigued me was the huge generators and heavy cables for the various rides.  The Heath Robinson electrical connections with naked live terminals lying around.  Ammeters with needles dancing to the rhythm of the rides they were supplying.

At the top of the street our side and thus fairly close would be the large roundabout.  All the other rides would pale into insignificance compared with this   Sometimes it would include a real fairground organ running from punched cards. 

This picture is not my own and possibly predates me, but it is of Alresford Fair and it does show a typically example of the sort of roundabout.

On one occasion I actually won a jar of sweets at a hoop-la stall - though I confess I did lean over the rail as much as possible to do so.

We (my sister and I) would stay up as late as our parents would allow, but my memories tell me that I never got to see the fair to its conclusion.  I remember lying in bed and listening to the throb of the diesel generators and the general hubbub.  Next day I would wake up to see only the last remaining trailers driving away and much litter left behind.