Whatever happened to the Victorian Fair?

When I moved to Kirkby Lonsdale in 1991, the Victorian Fair was a well-established tradition. As you wandered through the town, there were stalls everywhere and loads of people were dressed up in period costume. I found out a while later that you could go to the local hall - the Institute - a while before the event to borrow a costume but I never did.

For a few years, the fair carried on like this and I can remember that after I took over as chair of the PTA sometime in the late nineties, I did actually make an effort (put on a waistcoat) when it was my turn to man the PTA stall. But then, about ten years or so ago, interest seemed to drop away. Maybe the rot had set in earlier than that but that's when it seemed to manifest to me. People made less of an effort and the stalls all seemed to be there just to sell food.

And then, after one or two very wet years, they stopped what had become a rather desultory affair altogether. A couple of years after that, that there was an effort at a 'Kirkby Lonsdale big weekend' or something but that quickly disappeared, too.

I'm not sure where this year's Edwardian Fair came from or why the Victorians were dropped but there were a lot more people in Kirkby Lonsdale, today. Sadly there were no stalls on the street but there were a few on the market square and there was lots going on up at the playing field apparently. The Minx and I satisfied ourselves with a visit to the garden at Avanti where, happily, we bumped into one of my colleagues and his family, which was rather nice.

Later on, just as the day was drawing to a close, Dan and I left the cottage on our way to the car and I saw this chap, dismantling the helter skelter. We stood and watched him for a while, dismantling a section of the chute at a time and taking it down to the bottom, before scuttling back to the top.