All The Fun Of The Fair

By Jane Scoggins

My Dad used to love telling me tales about the old days, and as a kid I loved to listen. When I was in my teens and taking more of an interest in history I became more engrossed. What I had previously thought had just been stories to keep me and my sister occupied, were actually real things that happened. I realised that Dad’s stories, handed down from his Dad and his Grandfather before him, were bound together by truth and historical fact.

  Whenever the Funfair came to town, which was twice a year, Easter and August Bank Holiday weekend, my Dad would take my sister and I, right from when we were quite small. He loved the Fair and at these times metamorphosed from a quiet man who worked somewhere in the city, to a jaunty animated man. On one of these occasions, I remember my sister saying

 'Have you noticed how Dad changes when the fairground comes to town? He turns into a fairground man himself, and walks like a cowboy?'  We had laughed at this, and I will always remember it, as it was true. He's gone now, my dear old Dad, but I remember him most when he came alive at the Fair. He was not a big man, but despite that, he was strong and amazed us with his strength as he wielded the big wooden mallet hitting the metal pad so hard that the bell rang and people turned to look and cheer as it didn’t happen all that often. The fairground man with the trilby hat tipped back on his head and spotted kerchief around his neck, always shook Dad's hand and congratulated him with a big grin. My Dad loved that. To our amusement he would swagger off to the rifle range this was another surprise. Dad was excellent at this too. We would watch as he picked up a rifle, examine it carefully, and slowly raise it before taking aim, just like a real cowboy. And then in his own time and with one eye squinting down the barrel, he would take aim at the row of moving plastic ducks. He always won at least once and walked away beaming with confidence, with a couple of cuddly toys for us, or a pack of cards for himself. At home, Dad sometimes got out old photographs. The one we liked most was the one from Rayleigh Trinity Fair in 1899, the year his father, my Grandfather was born. The year my Great grandfather travelled from south London, to help at the Fair. The Trinity Fair become quite famous and was very popular. It was held every year in the centre of Rayleigh on Trinity Monday and Tuesday, usually on or around May 29. Combined with the Horse Fair, it drew horse dealers with their carthorses, cobs, nags and ponies, agricultural workers and farmers, hawkers, stallholders, travellers and musicians from the surrounding area in Essex. 1899 was the year that the railway came to Rayleigh so the event was busier than ever that year. Hundreds of people came to the two-day event and the many public houses that had rooms to let such as The Crown The White Horse, The Half Moon, The Lion, and The Paul Pry were crammed to the rafters with paying guests.

  The story goes that Great grandfather, after the birth of his third child, Thomas, (my grandfather), had needed to seek additional work to supplement his job at the coir matting factory in Kingston upon Thames. The fibre came from the nearby Middle Mill on the Hogsmill River and was advertised in the Surrey Comet as ''The only coconut fibre manufacturer in Surrey''

It was from here that the enterprising Arthur Harris bought coconuts and set up a coconut shy as a side stall at a local fête. It became so popular that he made it his business and travelled around the country to the big fairs. By chance, my Great grandfather made his acquaintance and came to Rayleigh as his helper. Albert had tall metal spikes made with a cup at the top made of twisted metal. The coconut sat in the cup and for one penny, or seven balls for sixpence, a hard wooden ball could be thrown at the coconut. The object of the game of course was to knock the coconut from the cup to the floor and so win the coconut. It was not an easy thing to do and needed strength. Hence women and children were allowed to stand at a line nearer to the shy. The nuts, imported mainly from Ceylon at the time, by the fibre mills, were not primarily imported for the coconut itself, but for the fibre and the quality of the interiors was not the main concern. Hence there were sometimes, a few bad nuts, that once cracked open, the coconut flesh was brown and the milk dried up. The banner advertising the game came with the reassuring words ' Bad Nuts Exchanged. Most children, and indeed most adults at the time had never played such a game or toasted coconut. It was such a novelty it pulled in crowds of people all wanting to have a go. The children asked all sorts of questions about the coconuts and were sent off to ask their schoolmaster when they returned to the schoolroom by the church, to show them on the map of the world where Ceylon was. Great-grandfather laughed as children and adults cracked open the coconuts to see and taste, rather hesitantly the contents inside. Some folk held their prize as a trophy and took it home to show friends and neighbours. Albert and Great-grandfather were kept busy the two days making a good profit. Great-grandfather had marvelled at Albert’s costume and showmanship, all very elaborate and designed to pull in the crowds. In the late evening when everyone had gone home they would sit outside the Spread Eagle with their beer and pipes, chatting to the horse traders and stallholders. Unfortunately, such events attracted bad company as well as good.  Pickpockets and thieves mingled with the crowds. In fact, Great grandfather and Albert were witness to a robbery as they sat outside The Spread Eagle. A gang of rough men started a fight and causing a distraction, a man's purse and pipe were stolen. Great-grandfather and Albert were called as witnesses and the thieves taken to Rochford lock-up. That year and previous years too, there had been much drunken, rowdy behaviour and reports of theft and assault. So the man responsible for the fair, a Mr James Rogers, called a halt to the Trinity Fair and it ceased to be although the horse fair continued for some time.

 In 2017, the Trinity Fair was resurrected in a modern format with stalls and rides for the children. I got out Dad’s photo and showed it to my own family. Thinking about Dad, his father, and Grandfather, we went to the Fair and headed straight for the coconut shy.

Copyright Jane Scoggins 

Trinity Fair