a fairground life(yesteryear)

My father bought our first ride in 1979. It was an upright paratrooper, second hand from another showman. I was only eleven at the time. The machine all packed on an 1965 (old C reg 8 wheel ERF with a 5 speed Browns gear box and a gardener 150 engine) lorry. I remember thinking the lorry was the bees knees when I saw it. We only had a wee 4 wheel F reg ERF with a gardener 100 engine until then.
The ride was all build up, no folding parts at all. The only hydraulic part was a ram that pushed the pole upright from a hinge on the chassis of the lorry. Then you had to attach three legs, tilt the pole forward and hope you had jammed enough packing in to hold it while you uncoupled the lorry and drove it out the way so you could attach the back leg before the pole fell over!!!
We nearly lost it once, but luckily a showman noticed it starting to tilt, shouted a warning and about 6 men jumped on the front leg and this extra weight was enough to balance it. Phew!!
For the first three years my great uncle operated the ride for my father, then when I was 14 years old it was my turn. "b" had been with us for a couple of years by then, he would be about thirty then. (he only came for a week and 28 years later he is still here) I travelled and stayed with my Grandmother, she would be in her early 70s then. So my father would shift us to the next fair, "b" and I would build up the ride, operate it, maintain it and pack it up when the fair was over. At that my father would arrive and move us to the next fair. He was travelling our amusement arcade at other fairs and we were rarely together in the early years. I had no transport and had to walk every where for supplies. One time I walked three miles to get a length of 2x1 timber. Then I walked back three miles with the 16ft length on my shoulder. I would be about 16 then. The laugth is the next week we travelled the three miles to open at a fair, where I had bought the timber from. By the time I was eighteen, "b" was with my father full time and I had other staff. I could handle the ride no problem, we even got good with the pole and could spin it around to suit difficult build ups at various fairs. By the time I was 19, I was driving the lorry, without an HGV,(you couldn't get away with that now). I got married and still travelled that ride, with the same lorry. Around 1989 I was asked to go to a vintage rally with the ride. I took the ride and lorry and set up in the middle of the event. I didn't pay to much attention until I noticed everyone taking photos and looking at the lorry and ride. Then I realised I was an exhibit! A 1965 genuine showmans lorry, powering an old ride by belt driven 110v dynamo attached to the gearbox. My showmans wagon was also at the back and my wife had people knocking on the door and asking for a viewing. There were other vintage lorries at the event, but they were all from the mid seventies, mine was the oldest. The laugh is, I paid a rental to be there and the others were paid to come and exhibit!!!!!
In 1990 on the last trip of the year to the winter yard, the engine put a conrod through the crankcase. That winter I put a gardener 180 and 6 speed gearbox in it. The lorry was still the same old 1965 ERF, but now it could do 60mph! Eventually the lorry was defunct, it was impossible to get parts and the old ratchet hand brake was a death trap, how I never got pulled up is a mystery. In 1994 the lorry was scrapped, I was lucky, gardener engines were at an all time high for export and I got good money for it. The old ride got trailer mounted as an artic and modernised. Changed days now, I couldn't send a 14 year old to operate, run a ride- a business.