a fairground life (post fair stress)

KJ asked about Kirkcaldy.
My grand parents were tenants at Kirkcaldy, they passed the plots onto my father who passed them down to my brother and I. The fair which started like most fairs as a market is over 700 years old now. In Fife it is known as the "Links Market" at one time it was Europe's longest street fair, it may still be, but at 7/10th of a mile it is shorter by at least 1/2 a mile from the early 70s. The fair is set along the sea front on a piece of dual carriageway. At one end is a car/ truck park area called the "Basin", the length of the fair is also described as being "land side" or "sea side" . Most large rides are on the sea side while most stalls are on the land side.The Basin is also on the "sea side". When I was a child my father and mother had an amusement arcade and kiosk (burger stall) in the basin. I was not allowed out of this area and until I was about 11 years old I never knew that the street part of the fair existed! In 1979 my father purchased the upright paratrooper from J White. With it came the position at Kirkcaldy for the ride. It was as far away from the basin as you could get. Every day I had to walk from one end to the other to mind the ride, sometimes several times to deliver a message (this was long before mobiles).The ground had suffered curtailment again that year(1979) and the Paratrooper was the last ride on the sea side at the town end of the fair- 7/10th of a mile away from the arcade. The plot was unusual because there was a row of side stalls across the entire front of the ride. The only frontage we had was 3ft at one end, then was the continuation of the road and pavement. The position was what we would call "running ground", not very good for earning money and only when the centre of the fair was jam packed with people (about 8-9pm nightly) would we start to take money at the end of the fair. The position was further awkward for us as it was a 50ft square of grass on a street and raised up 12-14 inches above the pavement.This meant we had to use railway sleepers to get the lorry up on the plot (and if it was wet we were the only people to get stuck in mud on a street fair!). I can remember our first build up there. I would be 12 and my brother 10, our dad took us up to help him do the top of the ride. It was bitterly cold and the wind was howling past. We were only kids and warmed our hands on the lighting set (generator) radiator between lifting items. My great uncle "Ratio" and "b" took the ride on after that and I would not do it again until I was 14 yrs old. I did it from then on.
Next to the plot was a toilet building. There were several along the sea front but now I think there is only the basin end set of toilets left. They were Victorian style sand stone buildings. At night my uncle would get "b" to plug a wire into the toilets lights for power for his wagon. Early in the morning "b" would get up and take it off before anyone would see. This worked well for a few nights until "b" went out on the tiles and slept late, the toilet attendant spotted the wire that morning and the game was up.
The ride plot was the most awkward build up we ever had for this or any ride since. The lorry went up on sleepers to get onto the plot, but to get the pole up we had to drive the lorry off the other side again. To keep it level we used the heavy kerb stones (12" w x 8" h x 30"l) that edged the grass. We man handled them into two straight lines about 12ft long and drove the front axles of the lorry onto them. This meant the lorry could only go forward or back no more than 12ft and it was tight up to the toilet building. When the pole was up we would normally move the lorry around to the front to build up, but here we had to spin the pole around to face the lorry as it was jammed in. We turned the pole by connecting a hand turfer winch to any solid object we could find. Here we used a short pole that was cemented into the ground at the edge of the plot (until one year we pulled it out altogether whilst using it). It was slow and hard work to turn the pole, it also walked off the packing and therefor out of position. We made numerous contraptions to make it easier for this one build up and pull down. The thing was that when we turned the ride 180 degrees to erect it we then had to turn it back 140 degrees to face the front. This added about 1-2 hours onto the job and that was only if all went well. After all the turning we usually had to reposition the ride onto the centre mark. Since we had lost our anchor we had to hammer in an 8ft scaffolding tube into the ground only leaving about 2 inches above the soil. We attached the hand turfer to this and using some carefully positioned rollers under the centre of the pole, turfed the ride back onto its spot (about 18 inches). Then of course we could not get the scaffolding tube out again so we just knocked it in the last two inches and covered over the top with some turf. The ride was fully erected during all this and wobbling side to side, back to front as all packing was loose so we could move it. I did this for my first time when I was 14 years old and "b" who was about 30 at the time. The fair also had other problems- it was very large and tight so caravan space was precious, if you did not arrive on time you may not get onto your space or get any space at all. I was only 19 when I started driving the lorry to Kirkcaldy and I had the belly ache every year since worrying if I would be on time to get my wagon onto its position. Then in 1994 I lost the ride position,the fair shrunk by another plot as the council re-modiffied the layout of the prom.They removed the grass area, made it more car parking and built a six foot high wall right across it. The ONLY thing that annoyed me about this is that no one ever notified me, I only found out three days before the fair when another showman had spotted it whilst driving through Kirkcaldy.I would have arrived there on site with my lorry and wagon for nothing.
I HATED THIS FAIR, I HATED THE WORRY FOR A WEEK BEFORE IT, I HATED THE EXTRA WORK FOR SETTING UP THE RIDE, I HATED THE FACT THAT I HAD A RUBBISH POSITION. I STILL get the belly ache today when I drive to Kirkcaldy even though I no longer operate any equipment there. We still have the basin plots but they are occupied by other showmen for us. I was too young and the stress too great. IF I NEVER ATTEND KIRKCALDY FAIR AGAIN, IT WOULD BE TOO SOON. BUT YOU SHOULD, Its a sight worth seeing!!! Many new rides debut here from all over the country.
The photo is the paratrooper on the plot at Kirkcaldy in the late 80s. It was taken from the edge of the ride plot through the 3ft gap I mentioned. The stalls across the front are just out of shot. The wagon at the back in not mine. There are numerous wagons to the left of the paratrooper just out of shot again. They were all jammed in about 18 inches apart. A fire hazard, this is why the fire chief had most wagons removed from the fair in the late 90s.
"b" and I were filmed in the early 80's erecting the paratrooper there and it appeared briefly in a video produced afterwards.

check this link out-http://video.aol.com/video-detail/links-market-kirkcaldy/2264231131