July

Nine of us today in Leaside on a very hot day set to break records for heat.
Three people had 2 votes each Sheila, Joan R and Rosemary.

Rosemary's story
THE WAY IN

The music of the fairground rides reached their ears long before they reached the street where the fair came for three days at the beginning of each September.  Always, children hoped, before school began again, as Ellen well remembered from her own schooldays.

"Come on, Nan!" Davy said, tugging on Ellen's hand, as they made their way through the crowds making for the fair.  "Can we go on EVERY ride, Nan?" asked Joanna, tugging on Ellen's other hand.  "We'll see," Ellen replied, remembering it was always her own mother's answer when she was a child and asked for something special.

As they made their way through the crowds Ellen began reminiscing about the very first time she'd come to this fair, shortly after the end of the Second World War.  One of the first stalls had puzzled her with its wares, as she looked at the various fruits she'd never seen before.  Yes, she'd shared a banana that her friend's Dad had brought home - a third each between Linda, Pat and herself.  Yes, she'd enjoyed that, but whatever was this sort of FLUFFY round thing?  "IT'S A PEACH," her Mum had explained, and bought one for her to try.   She hadn't liked the furry skin but the flesh inside was absolutely delicious and she'd never forgotten that very first one at the fair.

All the usual rides were there and Ellen enjoyed watching her two grandchildren enjoying the rides, and hoping to bag a coconut or other prize on the many different stalls.  Suddenly Davy spotted the Ghost Train and wanted to spend some of his remaining pocket money on that scary ride.  He looked at his sister and said, "You'd better not come with me.   It's FAR too scary for GIRLS!"  But Joanna wasn't going to let him get away with that.  So both children and their Nan looked for the way in and settled down for a scary ride.  As they swung round corners with spooky skeletons or even spookier noises making Joanna cling onto her Nan, and even the bold Davy feeling a shudder down his spine from time to time, Ellen remembered the first time she and her friends had ridden the Ghost Train, determined to be brave, yet longing for the ride to come to an end, so that they could get out at last.  It seemed to go on for ever and it seemed they might NEVER get out again.

"A bit like the many twists and turns on the journey towards BREXIT," thought Ellen and wondered whether the powers that be would EVER find the EXIT door or not.  A bit scary, just like the Ghost Train!

Sheila's story

Julie was not keen on horse riding, but as her dad was one of the trainers at the local stables, she really grew up with it all.  Besides training the more serious and experienced riders they also encouraged them to enter the local gymkhana every year.  It was good fun and lovely to see the little hopefuls riding the ponies in their races.  Each race had a points system and at the end of the day the children who came 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd had big rosettes in different colours, and all the rest had smaller rosettes with a “Well Done” in the canter, which made them feel good after all their hard work.  As Julie became a young teenager she started wanting a Saturday and holiday job, so working at the stables was the natural choice.  She started “mucking-out”, which, I suppose is the way all of them started.  Later on she was taught how to groom the horses.  She loved doing this and as she progressed and proved to the stable owner that she was quite competent she was put in sole charge of two horses to feed and groom.  

It was Julie’s job also to get them both ready for the people that wanted riding lessons.  People came and went,  some decided it was not for them, some lasted a few lessons and some stuck at it and became quite good riders.  A few wanted to go into the gymkhana each year.  The more serious riders had been taught how to do the jumping of the low fencing, which was spaced round the arena, while the others ran the races.  

No points system like the juniors, so even the ones that didn,t come first, they all had fun and at the end of the day they had all enjoyed themselves.  Tired out, but happy.  One of the more serious ones, Joe, was not very tall and quite slim in build and wanted to carry on riding after the lessons had finished, so he spoke to the stable owner, who suggested to him that he could work at the stables and train as a jockey – what did he think?  Well, he was overjoyed and soon settled into the routine of the stables. 

He was allocated a race horse – called Beauty and he was a quick learner at knowing when to urge her on and when to rein her in and all the other things you have to do in a race.  Beauty responded to Joe in all the commands and they very soon became a good team.  The stable owner was so pleased at the way things were going that he suggested that when the next racing season started he would like to enter Joe and Beauty into the novice race.  For the next few months they trained hard and Julie was busy grooming Beauty two or three times a day.  The excitement grew the nearer the racing season became, then very soon the big day came.  Julie was asked to go with them to the racecourse to see to Beauty, which she was thrilled to do.  She had just got back to the horsebox after walking Beauty round the paddock when Joe arrived, wearing the jockey outfit in the stable colours of black and green, and looking a bit nervous.  “Can you help me?” he said to Julie, “I have been told to get weighed, but I don’t know where to go”.  “Oh!” said Julie,”You want the WAY IN to the weigh-in room”.  She laughed and said, “I have been wanting to say that for ages”.  Joe laughed and Julie said, “No problem, follow me”.