All the fun of the fair

I have to admit this weekend didn’t quite go according to plan. I was meant to be having a few drinks on Friday night to celebrate a friend’s birthday, then travelling down to Devon for a big party in the countryside on Saturday. Unfortunately Friday night turned out to be more of a heavy-duty session than intended - think sambuca shots by 9pm - and by lunchtime on Saturday I was still far too ‘unwell’ to face a 4 hour journey to Devon. So, no big party for me, just a rancid hangover and guilt. (I’ve since heard that it turned out to be “the best party since 1991″ - how gutted am I?!)

With no Plan B in place for the weekend, I found myself at a bit of a loose end today, and decided to stroll over to Belair Park in West Dulwich to see Carters Steam Fair.

Carters Steam Fair, or to give it its full name Carters Famous Royal Berkshire Steam Fair, is a frequent visitor to the parks of London, but it’s the first time I’ve been in years. The fun fair is made up of historic rides and attractions, all restored and beautifully decorated - in other words, nothing like the tacky crap one normally associates with fun fairs.

There’s something particularly charming about seeing steam issuing out of a traditional ride’s funnel, as with the the Queens Silver Jubilee Steam Gallopers carousel (believed to date back to the late 19th century) and the Steam Yachts (from the 1920s, although their steam engine was built in 1901).

It’s not just the rides and stalls that are old, but also the vehicles and trailers used to transport the fair. There’s a 1932 Ford AA which is now the ‘Candy Floss support vehicle’(!), and lots of trucks dating back to the 1940s, 50s and 60s.

Jonathan Ross described the fair “as more like a film set than a travelling fair”, and I can see what he means; I can quite imagine it as a setting in a David Lynch or John Waters film (not that I’m suggesting the fair is necessarily sinister or kitsch).

I only stayed at the fair for about 45 minutes, as, despite being careful to concentrate on details and avoid getting kids in shot, I was starting to feel a little self-conscious; in these paranoid times, a single guy with a camera can only spend so much time around what is primarily a kids’ attraction before an angry lynch mob forms.

Carters Steam Fair will be back at Belair Park next weekend (14th-15th June), and other locations are listed on their site.

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