The Steam Yachts

The Mini Octopus

The Chair-o-Plane



Dobbies

Strikers

Full-size Octopus

Dodgems



Train Ride

The Skid



One of our great institutions and a feature of summertime is the travelling fairground. Fairs have been around since Medieval times. They were occasions where people would gravitate to the local village to buy and sell wares. Alongside this would be entertainments, contests and eating and drinking. With the coming of mechanisation, machines were developed to offer thrills and excitement to the whole family. This was the birth of the steam driven fairgrounds. Other amusements available at the time were the travelling theatres, circuses and then in the 20^th Century, stunt flyers.

Some of the steam-driven rides in the Carter’s fair originated in the late 1890s. It all began when John and Anna Carter purchased and restored the Jubilee Steam Gallopers in 1977. They travelled the country to local fairs and steam rallies and started to realize they had a passion for these beautiful machines. As they added more vintage steam rides to their collection, Carter’s Steam Fair was born. The Jubilee Steam Galloper  was built in 1895 by Robert Tidman & Sons of Norwich. At that time it would have been the fastest most people could have travelled. Carter’s are adamant that this should not be called a carousel. The reason is a carousel turns anti-clockwise, has different horses and they are prancing. The Gallopers turn clockwise because women rode side-saddle so they could face outwards.

Anna Carter put her design skills to work and began restoring the coachwork of the rides they acquired. They found a new yard in 1999 to store the rides over the winter and a workshop to carry out the refurbishment. It was during this year that the family experienced a setback with John Carter developing Hodgkins disease. He died later the next year. The family took stock and John’s children took up the baton so Anna, Joby, Seth and Rosie got the fair back on the road. Since then, the fair has gone from strength to strength with Joby and his wife Georgina managing the operation. New rides were acquired and refurbished making Carter’s the largest travelling vintage fair in the world.

The steam yachts were built for the renowned showman Joe Ling in 1921 by a company called Savages. Carter’s found them rotting in a Scottish scrapyard in the 1980s and set about overhauling and restoring them. The original steam engine that powered the yachts was sold off in the 1950s.  A new one was acquired from Harry Lee who had been running a similar set of steam powered yachts. The engine he provided was called Yorky and is the one in this picture that is still going strong.

Funfairs have changed a lot since Victorian times, mostly in terms of speed. To begin with, rides such as the steam gallopers would achieve speeds faster than most people had travelled. Gradually, motors improved and things travelled faster so people looked for more thrills. Today, fairs found at places like Alton Towers provide thrill seekers with huge drops, they can be thrown around at great speed and even hurled up into the sky upside down.

The rides at the Carter’s Steam Fair are still slower and provide people with a more sedate experience. Many appeal to children with some specially designed for them. The Austin Cars for example, were a 1950s invention. They were built be miners from South Wales who had been forced to retire due to respiratory problems. The new safer, cleaner factory that produced the ride was a much better option than the mine for these men. The original Austin pedal cars were adapted to go around the central motor. The children no longer had to pedal but there was some interactivity in a steering wheel they could turn. Although primarily a one-seater, a smaller brother or sister could squeeze in as well.

Chair-o-plane is also known as the chair swing ride. It has its origins back in the days of Medieval jousting tournaments. Knights would gallop in circles whilst playing catch. The original Chair-o-plane was designed by Harry Guy Traver in 1904. People were beginning to become captivated by the thought of flight. The Wright Brothers had just made their first flight several months before. This new ride consisted of seats suspended on chains around the central motor. As the carousel spun the chairs would swing outwards giving a sensation of being in an aeroplane and banking. In the 1970s portable designs started to appear at fairs and now they are a central feature. Designs have changed but the idea has remained the same. Modern chair-o-planes can rise slowly up to heights of 50 feet giving a real sensation of flying.

Swing-boats used to be a common sight at fairs during the 19^th and 20^th Century. There were steam versions but there were also hand operated ones at Carter’s. The two passengers would pull a rope alternately or push down with their feet on a platform. I remember we gad a great one in the park near us. You sat in the seat and held a handle that was in the middle. You could pull or push it depending on which direction you eere going in. It was even possible to ride solo as there was also the foot operation. When we were kids we would get four or more on it as someone could stand at the back and hold the rigid bars the seat was suspended on. We would get it right up to the top so you felt you were flying. Ah, happy days...until the council removed it along with the high slide, the 10 foot climbing frame and the maypole with chains! All in the name of modernisation and health and safety. The playground was never the same after that.

The Boat Ride was  for children and designed in the 1950s by Jacksons. It is a gentle ride rotating around a central motor. When I was a child, I would have loved the boat ride where I could let my imagination go free and pretend I was sailing the high seas. Like all the Carter’s rides, it is wonderfully painted in the traditional liveries of fairground rides. Joby Carter and his team were highly skilled sign writers and ensured that the Carter’s Steam Fair was one of the most beautiful fairs on the road.

Carter’s has been an institution now for nearly 50 years, travelling the length and breadth of the country bringing fun and enjoyment to adults and children throughout the summers. It has a special place in the hearts of many and epitomises what an English fair is. I got talking to the people who travel with the fair. They are another group of travellers like those who travel with the circuses or move around the country in the caravans and motorhomes carrying out all manner of work like tarmacing, tree surgery and horse trading. It was during a conversation with this man that I first learned that Carter’s was no longer going to tour and the fair is now up for sale.

One of the men operating the steam engine that drove the Steam Yacht told me that because of legislation connected with Climate change, Councils were not allowing the fair in their wards. Also, burning coal was being phased out and they had to use special fuel that was costing six times as much making it economically unviable. Sadly, the decision was taken to make 2022 the last season. Let’s hope someone sees potential in the fair and buys it so it can continue to give pleasure into the future.