At the Fairground

An entry to Sepia Saturday. "Using old images as prompts for new reflections"

I had a postcard image of high speed enjoyment  on a big dipper but as I can't find it here is something of sedate speed although my hands must bee moving fast they are fuzzy. This is the seaside resort of Morecambe of which one of my most abiding memory is of the giant ice cream sandwiches. I wonder what the game of 'Feed the Golden Geese' was in the background. 

But I'm going to go forward in time from this photo when aged about 9 I  joined my friends Jean and Marie in the St John's Ambulance brigade. For a year our time was spent recognising symptoms and practising bandaging but then there was great excitement for our troop was going to go away on a parade. My memory is hazy of its purpose, it was some kind of rally,  but it was certainly a big deal.  We spent the next weeks doing first aid but mostly practising marching, turning and looking left and right plus ensuring our uniforms were in tip top condition for the trip. We were to be inspected by Princess Margaret, who was Commandant in Chief of the cadet section of the St John's Ambulance.  Our marching practice over we set off to join hundreds of other troops from across the country.  I have no memory of where we went I can only narrow it down to Lancashire but it was a huge venue and we lined up in our hundreds.  The Princess appeared in full uniform motoring along the serried ranks standing up  in a land rover but what intrigued us girls the most was the thickness of her make up.  To get back to the theme of "Sepia Saturday" when the marching and inspection was over we were dropped off here

 

all still in uniform and were informed by the booth attendants that as St John's Ambulance cadets attending the rally we gained free entrance and free rides. What a time we had, a treat made even better for its surprise nature.  Our pocket money would never had run to this.  When looking for photos of Belle Vue, which closed in the 1980s, I immediately recognised the entrance booths, but not the dinosaur.