The morning rain cleared, and by late afternoon patches of blue sky appeared. Sunlight even dazzled some fair goers as the sun went down. The crowds of fair goers included mostly young families at first, young adults predominated later on.
There was one new ride this year at the top of Ock Street – called Star Flyer. It is like a giant version of ‘chair o planes’.
As always there were many activities for the children that parents could watch and photograph.
Then there were the stalls selling candy floss, burgers and chips, donuts, and other fun fair foods.
There were games of chance. You could win a prize by throwing darts, shooting a rifle or bow, or throwing balls at great speed at coconuts. There was a hook-a-duck, a hook-a-whale, and a hook-a-super-hero, and an amusement arcade.
There were also the smaller vendors with helium balloons, glow sticks or glow whirls -things for the children to take home.
We don’t have shows at The Abingdon Fair in 2014, unlike 100 years ago in 1914, but there is a fortune teller in a caravan: Gypsy Maria Lee started telling fortunes at a young age, having inherited the gift from her mother who inherited the gift from her mother … all the way back from the original Gypsy Lee.
Larger rides this year included: Woodford’s Golden Galloping Horses, Bodycount, Meteorite, Walzer, Tagado, Dominator, Powershot, Superbowl, Tornado 2, Twister,
STORM, Extreme, Froggit, Crazy Bulls, Roller, Star Flyer…
and dodgems. By the way I was asked to mention “The Oxfordshire County Council hearing on the proposed Crossing changes on Ock Street and Marcham Road will be held next Thurs 9th in Oxford at 10.30am. It is too late for written comment now but if anyone wished to speak, they would need to give one day`s notice.”
Arrived at 5:30- took a stroll started at the square, walked to top of Ock Street. Sarah working out what rides to go on. Selected Extreme, then Tagado, then attempted waltzers, failed miserably, the amount of screaming teenagers rushing to enter cars,
I can see why there is a sign warning of bumps and bruises, (didn’t think it would be before the ride!!!! sadly after a few attempts, gave up – and went home).
Great photography as always!
Paying all that money, for what? Rubbish flying about. Exhaust and hot air at every turn. Obstacles standing in the way of progress… People with no common sense making all that noise…. The screams and yells as people make poor decisions and get taken for a ride…. No thanks, I’ll give that council meeting a miss!
Daniel, well written .
Good one, Daniel!
While I have zero interest in the fair I would defend to the death (well maybe not that far) others’ right to enjoy it, especially the little nippers. And if their parents want to pay extortionate prices for he rides, so be it. No harm done and probably a great deal of fun had, albeit expensively!
I wonder why the County Council planning enquiry is not being held in Abingdon? Too far to travel?
Surely County Councillors want to meet the people who will be most affected by the proposed Drayton Road development – don’t they?
I am always impressed to see Ock street so clean the morning after the Fair…….If only people would keep it this way and use the rubbish bins!
Yes – the Fair is an amazing spectacle which I love to see. And then it disappears overnight and Ock Street is left beautifully litter-free. Well done to all concerned.
I wish the same could be said for the area around Macdonalds. Those of us who live nearby have to put up with cartloads of rubbish, comprising discarded food containers and the remnants of food and drink all year round. This nuisance has increased noticeably since they were licensed to open for 21 hours per day and to construct a two-lane onsite motorway to accommodate even more takeaway customers.
I wonder if the people who grant these permissions ever consider the nuisance it causes for neighbourng inhabitants?!!
The fair is fine but they should ban all the smelly generators and blaring ‘music’ and noisy blokes with microphones – it’s basically a noisy nuisance that people in Ock Street have to suffer every year. Some inhabitants just shut up shop and go away for two days of course, but some unfortunates don’t have the option.
Is there anyone living in Ock Street who was there before the fair? No, I didn’t think so.
Just regarding points 8 and 9. The cleaning up is done by the town council. The staff worked through the night to remove the tar and pick up the litter. Well done to Steve Rich and his team.
Just to be clear about my post (9). I am full of admiration for the work done by the people who work so hard to clear up after the fair. I realize the clean up operation must have been carried out overnight and I applaud their efforts.
My moan is about the litter nuisance (365 days per annum) occasioned by the ever burgeoning amount of hot takeaway food outlets. I refer in particular to the massive amount of rubbish discarded by customers from the MacDonald’s at Marcham round about.
I do not advocate even more cleaning operations by the Council team since this will impact on Council Tax and penalize law-abiding citizens who do not drop litter. Rather I am questioning whether those bodies who sanction the expansion and lengthy opening hours for takeaway food outlets, ever consider the problems they or their customers cause
It seems Cassandra that you, like many of us (myself included), think, or thought that Planning rules and regulations were put in place to protect our communities. Of course, as becomes ever so clear over time; it isn’t.