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All the fun of the fair


DJS

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I was a bit surprised to notice that "The Shows" are in town.  Usually Inverness gets a visit in May and then after the Nairn Games in August but now it looks like we're getting another turn.

So what are your childhood and teenage memories of The Shows?

How long did that goldfish in a plastic bag live?

Did you throw up in the swingboats?

It all seemed pretty wooden and rickety back then.

Helter skelters that you went down on a door mat.

What was the daftest thing you won?

Air rifle shooting using guns with wonky sights.

Freak shows with bearded ladies and really tall guys.

Happy Days!

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Er--I got on free at the dodgems and swings at the Nairn fair  since Mammy & Daddy knew the Herchers. That was a good memory.

Also Candy floss was a special memory, the Links at Nairn  allied to the great sandy beaches , warm , never-ending summer evenings and playing down at the suspension bridge at the River in Nairn close to the former site of the Nairne castle that once stood at that very spot (now, I understand, removed a mile or so and renamed Cawdor castle)..

At the bught in Inverness the rifle shoting gallery always took my fancy. :006: Like the bearded lady when she winked at me.... :004:

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The shows, aye what great times were had at the bught, spewing in the waltzers - all because the fanny spun us faster when we screamed slower!

Smelling the candy floss and the toffee apples, the chips, all this as you walked throught the islands, the music getting louder and louder.

Best memory was as a ten year old, having spent me ten bob, kicked a fag packet and found a FIVER, what joy, and then feeling a bit guilty later on when down to the last half crown.

Also remember being a wee bit wary of the 'showy' people, they all seemed to have that weathered, dark skinned ***** look, probably because they were eh!

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It always seemed to me that the shows which reached the Bught were apretty feeble rump of the numerous rides, stalls and sideshows which pitched up in Nairn a week or two before.

Without doubt cruel and politically incorrect, my most vivid memories are of the various "freaks" who inhabited many of the side show tents.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Kingsmills

I think you are right since my  memories are similar about the variety being greater at Nairn.

However I still went to the Bught. Shows are shows. Reminds me also of the enjoyment I had at going to Bertram Mills Circus at the Bught and being impressed by the size of the tent. :002:

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  • 2 weeks later...
Guest Fife Flyer

The striking maroon lorries of 'John Codona's Pleasure Fairs Ltd'. Each had this embazoned across the side with the name of the ride it carried underneath, 'Super Dodgem Cars, Super Waltzer, Super Jet Planes. The lorry that carried the 'twist' also had 'Super Jet Planes' written along its side for some reason. Paddy, the big Irish man who managed the dodgems who always wore shirt and tie along with bib and braces boiler suit and wee 'Black Harry' his loyal assistant. Poor Harry was well named and even after Alfred Codona had all the men told to get cleaned up and and dressed in good clothes for the shows to open, the white shirt only served to show just how engrained Harry was with oil and grease. The Codona's equipment was always nice and clean, well painted, shiny with a smell of polish, a bit like that of Charlie Horne who carries on the tradition today. Like most show people, the Horne's and Codona's are closely related. John Codona, who was the last Codona to take the ground at Inverness, sadly died a few years ago. His wife and eldest son both died of cancer within a few months of each other a couple of years earlier.

There have been a few Inverness based show families over the years, Morrisons and Mappplebecks come to mind and of course over in Invergordon the Herchers still have their base. They have been presenting amusements in the Highlands for many years. I once heard it said that the original family name was 'Herche', and the original Highland Hercher came off a shipwrecked vessel of the Spanish Armada wich foundered as it was being chased around the west coast by sir Francis Drake's fleet.

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  • 1 year later...

My earliest memories of the "Shows" are of my brother coming home from the RAF with a girlfriend from England (who had never before been north of the Watford Gap) and them taking me (very little sister) for a treat for a Chinese meal and then to the "Shows". 

I recall my brother's then girlfriend had a very low neck revealing top, and, when she took me on the waltzers, the guy in charge spun the waltzer round and round (likely spying on Pam's low neckline) and when we eventually got off I was extremely sick!

I don't think I have been on the waltzers since but it didn't put me off Chinese meals and I've endured (and I suppose enjoyed) the Revolution at Blackpool since, though.

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The Spanish vessel that was shipwrecked on one of the Islands just North of the Orkney mainland was the flagship of the Armada.. The men who survived fraternised with some of the local girls and their offspring were thereafter named the Dons. Food was very scarce in these days and many of them were deliberately killed so that the local inhabitants did not starve.These Dons were never again allowed to  mingle their blood with the Vikings on these islands and remained apart like a different breed.

They had one thing in common with the Vikings' descendants--good seafarers and from all accounts were excellent seamen and fishermen.

Maybe the Mr Herche® whom I knew is descended from one of them who fancied a more free life in  the Scottish Mainland. My family knew the Herchers well and I find the information on here fascinating.

I remember him as a small man and kind. He had a roudnabout with horses at the Shows in Nairn as I recall.

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