Hat Fair

We returned  to Winchester this  afternoon, in time to catch the  first session of the Hat Fair. It is an annual event, lasting three days, normally held in Winchester's  streets and open spaces,  with the audience  throwing  money into the hats of the  performers, if they have enjoyed the act. 
This year it has to be a ticketed event held in the River Park, to prevent large crowds assembling.  
We watched an excellent  fifteen  minute production of the  Magic Flute, some Irish dancers, and then this pair of entertainers. The smaller chap  had to free himself, Houdini- style, from locked chains  and a straitjacket, in the time it took the  larger chap to drink, through a tube, a pint of beer balanced on his head, while at the same time  juggling three sharp machetes. As  you can probably guess, it caused much merriment among the young boys at the front of the arena!