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Spring Fair
For amusement boys made peashooters, popguns and whistles from elder stalks,
pushing out the pith with an old corset stay. They would make catapults, useful
for providing a young rabbit for the pot, or the contents of a rook pie. Their
elders would gather at the local hostelry for a game of skittles or quails. Folk
saved the year round to 'hav a good toime' at Gazeley Spring Fair where beer
flowed and revellers danced in the skittle alley and round the Maypole.
Competition to climb the 50 foot greasy pole was fierce. The prize, a leg of
lamb was worth aiming for. Bandsmen walked the 12 miles from Great Bradley to
provide music for the occasion. As soon as the first note of the approaching
band were carried on the breeze, excited villagers would flock to meet them, for
festivities did not begin until the band arrived.
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