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Coor!!! Oz you were rich    I had two young boys when the master came home from work we had tea, then he washed pots and boys to bed and I had to be at work by 6 30. I worked at the bingo hall it was the latest craze. At the time I was getting twice the pay of a qualified stylist.

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Hi Stavertongirl  thanks for telling me about the cakewalk being at Goose Fair,  just a quick story Friday night 8th Oct 1965 the following day was my wedding day, any way all the ladies had just had

When I was about 15 my two friends and I decided we wanted to be at Goose Fair when it ended at midnight (?) on the Saturday.  Another friend (Deirdre) and her brother lived up Sherwood Rise and invit

GOSH!!!!  Goose Fair what memories? age 13/15   used to walk down to the Forest from Robin Hood Chase with my  best friend Wendy Husband . each night Monday till Wednesday, What I here you l

When I was about 15 my two friends and I decided we wanted to be at Goose Fair when it ended at midnight (?) on the Saturday.  Another friend (Deirdre) and her brother lived up Sherwood Rise and invited us to stay at their house that night.  All went to plan and we went up to Deirdre’s house at midnight.  Maybe we were a little noisy but their Dad, a retired Army officer, appeared in the sitting room (in his underwear) and told us three little girls to get out!  We stood outside in the fog, a bit frightened.  We couldn’t all go home, to Arnold and Mapperley, because we’d told our parents we’d be perfectly safe and staying with a friend. Apart from that we’d spent all our pocket money at the fair.  
So we walked down Mansfield Road and into the Lace Market because we knew there was an ‘all-nighter’ on at the Beachcomber.  Of course, we had no money to get in plus The Beachcomber was for over 18s and none of us looked that old. We sat all night huddled outside next to a vent where warm air kept us warmish, no idea who was performing though.  
The next morning, at a reasonable time,  we all caught our buses home and our parents never knew we’d been out all night with no sleep!  

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As a schoolgirl, walking to Manning on the Thursday morning, you could smell Goose Fair roughly when you reached Radford Road. A unique admixture of fried onions, sweet candyfloss and diesel. From the Manning side of Radford Road, the fortune telling Gipsy Rose Lees were scuttling around the booths they'd set up on the forecourts of some of the large houses approaching Noel Street. The rest of them were doing the rounds of houses with baskets of clothes pegs and flowers fashioned from pink loo paper.

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I've probably posted it somewhere here before, but one of my Goose Fair memories involved us going to my grandparents' house on Grimston Road, and then walking along Gregory Boulevard to the fair. As we got closer, the sounds and smells got stronger, and I was always fascinated by the increasing use of front garden space along Gregory Boulevard for side shows and fortune tellers etc. 

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1 hour ago, philmayfield said:

Although I think clairvoyance is a completer load of rubbish she was absolutely right in what she told me. Uncanny!

Did she tell you that you thought clairvoyance was a complete load of rubbish?

 

My mother had a visit from a Gipsy at Goose Fair 1957.  Must have caught mum on the hop because she wouldn't normally have answered the door.

 

Mum was quite obviously pregnant with yours truly. The Gipsy told her the child was a girl ( 50% chance of being right there anyway). My mother already had a daughter, said the gypsy. Correct. She was at school. My mother would never have a son. Correct, she never did.  I would have dark, curly hair (mum was blonde so no clues there). I would be very clever (modesty forbids), moreso than the elder daughter. I would have a talent for music and play the piano. I would also be a dancer.

 

My mother bought some clothes pegs and closed the door. She never forgot what the Gipsy told her, though.

 

 

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4 hours ago, Cliff Ton said:

It starts today, which seems ridiculously early. And goes on until Sunday 8th.

 

I haven't been since the late 80s, and probably won't break that run this year.

 

As I recall, all through my childhood, it opened at midday on the first Thurs on Oct, and ended at midnight on the following Saturday.

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That's right DJ and it was officially opened by the Sheriff ringing two silver bells. I always went on Thursday as the prices gradually rose each day. Then a week after it was Basford Wakes, which I preferred, on some waste ground by Lincoln Street. 

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Thanks BK. I worked in the area for many years and remember the demolition of the  pub. The McDonalds’ building was a prefabricated structure and was erected rapidly over a weekend. I often used to nip down from Haydn Rd. at lunchtime and eat a quick Big Mac in the car. Was the mini fairground an extension of Basford Wakes?

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I also recall a 'wakes' in Bulwell, on a field through a gap in the buildings roughly opposite where the King Billy pub was.

Probably roughly the area which now has 'Holborn Place' Car Park.

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Part of Goose Fair went to set up in Ilkeston after it was dismantled on the Forest. I went to a series of meetings there in October some years ago. They went on all day and when I finally emerged after 5pm, the streets were full of roundabouts and sideshows. Much of the area was closed to traffic and I had a hell of a time trying to find my way out. 

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@philmayfield, in reply to your query, four posts above, yes it was an extension. I was a lazy bugger ! If I had been on the wakes at basford, I would catch a trolley bus down to Valley road junction, ( that's where the 'duckies' used clock their cards).

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To me Goose Fair is a Nottingham tradition I always wanted to see it open. Did not get the chance untill I had my 2 boys. one in the pram and one sitting on the pram seat. First Thursday in October 12 00 mid=day people waiting then at 12 00 the mayor rings the bell and says

""I am the mayor who opens this fair, for 3 days and 3 days only!"" then rings his bell again.   

and the fair opens.

Now from what I heard the council did get greedy and ask the fair holders for more rent? the only was they could do this was to open more days., Don't quote me though.                                          

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This is an article from the BBC website about cocks on sticks at the goose fair. I remember them well!

My favourite fairground food was brandysnap. Of course there was always candyfloss and toffee apples but, it being Nottingham, there had to be mushy peas and mint sauce!

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-67055819

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For me the "Old" Goose Fair was more about the smells, sounds and the lights rather than the individual rides. The oily smell of the hot diesel generators and their noisy exhausts. The onions being cooked for the hot dogs and hamburgers and the other smells mentioned by Marrowman. The sound of Rockin' Goose, Beatnik Fly and Red River Rock by Johnny and the Hurricanes belting out from the speakers on the Waltzer and other rides. The flickering of the incandescent bulbs as they got intermittent power through their rotary couplings as the rides whizzed round and round. 

Many of the local towns and villages had their fairs or wakes before the Goose Fair assembled or after it had finished.

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