a fairground life(another one bite's the dust)

To be more accurate its another three. That is three fairs this year that are off or lost. Not even fairs that you could say were only recently brought into use, but three fairs of long standing. The first is Mariners Day in Camelon near Falkirk. I was not a tenent there myself (we did go once when I was about 7yrs old, 1975 or so) but that's not the point. It displaces other showmen and interferes with there lively hood. The reasons for this lost fair are not known to me at this time.
The second fair lost, was a one day event in a park at East Kilbride. The event is still on but with no fair, this is due to gangs of youths congregating near the event and fighting among themselves. This was a good one day for all the showmen who attended, I was lucky enough to attend this fair last year( as a one off). Again it had been a long running event.
The third fair was in Queens Park Glasgow. It was run by my brother. He took control of this fair about 9 years ago. The fair itself had been running from the turn of the century. During the last eight years we had problems from the local residents who lived across from the playing fields we were on. They complained about the youths coming and going from the fair. I went to a meeting with them, arranged by the council. They seemed more interested in how much the council paid us to be there. When I explained that we paid a rent to the council, a license fee, a police bill and that we were all self employed families they were a bit more sympathetic. We did get the fair back but the expenses increased due to security costs, fencing , stewards etc. There were a few neds at night, they were not allowed in so they hung around at the gate and no doubt put family people off from visiting. Business declined year on year. Eventually the costs exceeded the profit and the neds seemed more noticable (no decent family people to dilute them). This year there were not enough tenents to put the fair on. To be honest I'm glad to see the back of this one, I'm getting too old for the fist fighting! Perhaps it's true- the funfair does attract trouble or does all the trouble from that area just congregate at the fair for the free entertainment? I don't know where it will end, will anyone even miss these fairs or stop to think why they are no longer on. Probably not. Will the youths stop fighting, I don't think so, it will just be out of sight again. Sometimes I think we go too easily, not wanting to rock the boat. It's our children we are letting down.