Woodhouse Feast / Armley Feast etc.

The green spaces and places of Leeds
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Leodian
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Post by Leodian »

No doubt they are far too tame for today's kids but I used to like Helter Skelters.
A rainbow is a ribbon that Nature puts on when she washes her hair.

Loiner in Cyprus
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Post by Loiner in Cyprus »

luckyluke wrote: Bert wrote: Enjoyed reading your piece Luckyluke. I used to go the Fair every year in Crossgates in the 1950s. In those days there was a Ritz Cinema next to the railway station on the opposite side from the Station Hotel, and the Fair (we local kids called it the 'Feast') was in the field next to it at the bottom of the Ring Road. I remember it had a traditional roundabout and one of those things where you sit in u-shaped booths hinged to the end of long spokes and get hurled around at terrifying speed. I seemed to be forever incurring Mam's displeasure by arriving home with goldfish in jars I had won on the rifle range or whatever. Would the Feast's owners then have been forebears of the ones you describe Luckyluke, or were they unrelated? The ride you descibe with the long spokes was Athas Skid.This been one of two they owned in the 50s and 60s.This one was sold to Eddys in 1969.It has now been scrapped.Not many skids left these days.Athas other skid was scapped around the same time as their other one.A chap called Jimmy Bowry stills travels one around the UK. Is this the same ride we called the 'whip'?

luckyluke
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Post by luckyluke »

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Loiner in Cyprus
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Post by Loiner in Cyprus »

luckyluke wrote: Yes they were also know as The Whip.To me Feasts were at their peak in the 1950s 60s and 70s.The atmosphere at the grounds was electric.I only just remember the 70s,and they were still a lot of old time rides around as well as the foden transport that made them look attractive when packed up and been moved from place to place.Most rides from 1930 onwards were ran by a set full o deisel.And to start them up so that the feast lit up you had to pull a starting handle,this would be joined on to a piece of rope and the men would pull the rope.I can still see Old Atha(Ernest Atha) as he was known with his foot on top of the old blue foden platform lorry over the starting handle saying after one, two pull.A few pulls later and away we go, the lighting set sparks into action and the feast is open.Those lighting sets were used up untill about 1984,before progress came into force,and things began to change. Around 1959/60 I remember having the 'privilege' to help Athas build the speedway at Scott Hall Feast. I was about 13/14 at the time. I was helping bolting down the speedway bikes. Unfortunately I got my finger in the wrong place at the wrong time and split it open. End of my 'career' working on the feasts. If I remember rightly, Ernest, not Bernard!!, was a shortish stocky/plumish guy and his son was taller with dark hair. The son showed us, the local youngsters, how to start the aforementioned lighting generator.

luckyluke
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Post by luckyluke »

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volvojack
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Post by volvojack »

[quote="Trojan"]skippy wrote: anyone remember hunslet feast ? it was on hunslet moor on either side of the road it used to start on the last day of july for 2 week it was great with the speedway waltzers and the shamrock and all the side stalls the brandy snap was my favourite and the hotdogs i can smell them now!!! I remember going to Hunslet Feast in about 1961/2. It was held on the land that adjoined the Hunslet RLFC (Parkside) Ground. The reason it so sticks in my memory is because the "steam yachts" "Shamrock and Columbia" were there, and I went on them. We held on to the netting at the back, in order to show off to the girls. I believe they are now only seen at vintage steam fairs. But Hunslet Feast sticks in my memory. I remember going to Holbeck Feast as a kid, but couldn't say where it was held. "Feast" is the name for the annual holiday in the mill towns of the West Riding (like Wakes Week in Lancashire) and the name became the same for the travelling fairs that came to the various towns, . Morley's "Feast Weeks" were the second and third in August and the fair (feast) came to the "Dartmouth" which is at the bottom of Bruntcliffe Lane, but it wasn't as big or spectacular as Hunslet Feast. I remember once going to the end of season fair at Hull which was pretty .


Have been looking for somewhere to post concerning Hunslet Feast but have not been able to find it.
My memorys after all these years is that the one thing we Beeston lads had to do was not to fall foul of the "Pottery Fielders" a gang of Teddy Boys with their Long Drape Jackets and Drainpipe Trousers. Muff Potter, Bryan (Blondie ) Young and Eddie Trimble were the leaders and one had to be very careful when attending that Feast.
Great memories listening to the Music on the various rides, Waltzer ect. very envious of the Gypsy lads who could move very nimbly between the rides and make them spin if there were two girls inside, making them scream.
Used to go to other Feasts around Leeds, Holbeck, Beeston and the Really big one Woodhouse but Hunslet was still my favourite.

Happy Days.

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tilly
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Re: Woodhouse Feast / Armley Feast etc.

Post by tilly »

Hi volvojack i remember Hunslet Feast when it was held at Park Side outside Hunslet rugby ground i think this is before it was on Hunslet Moor im going back to the nineteen fiftys.I remember the boxing booth one of there men would take on all comers if you lasted more than i think two rounds you won money.I remember the long boat it was quite big and swung backwards and forwards i never had a go on it i think i was too young. Friends told me at night you could hear coins rattling on the floor after some of the men had been drinking and would end up on the long boat floor good times.
No matter were i end my days im an Hunslet lad with Hunslet ways.

volvojack
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Re: Woodhouse Feast / Armley Feast etc.

Post by volvojack »

Yes Tilly, Thats, when i used to go down to Parkside. The noise and the music/ liights used to transport us to another world. The followig mmorning my Mother always complained about the dirt in my socks and shoes.
The " Boscoes" boxing booth was as you say, Two or Three rounds would win a man the money, but they always had the same man in who lost in the thirs round, so never got the £5.
As you say Good Times.

jma
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Re: Woodhouse Feast / Armley Feast etc.

Post by jma »

The mention of the boxing booth reminds me of a couple of tales about a former colleague who had been a guardsman and a heavyweight champion in the Army just after the war, when the Army was large enough for that to mean something. I was told these tales by another older-end colleague when I was young and impressionable (late 1960's) Anyway, a coachload of bobbies from Leeds went to the seaside where they eventually found the boxing booth. Already well-refreshed with the crates of ale on the coach, our hero removed his jacket, to reveal trousers held up by braces looking a bit like Obelix for anybody who knows the Asterix stories, waistband somewhere near the armpits. "Ding-ding" round one, resident boxer dances round "thwack" he's on his back and saved by the bell, after the shortest round in boxing history. After a long break, "ding-ding for round two and before the KO blow landed "ding-ding again for the end of an even shorter round. Since our hero's team of seconds were all of a similar size, the booth's operators paid up rather than risk a third round.

The second story was when the same officer was giving evidence at Leeds Assizes and m'learned friend for the defence suggested he had kicked the prisoner. Very slowly and deliberately, our hero removed his tunic - buttoned up to the neck in those days so no shirt and tie - to reveal the braces underneath and a yellowing woollen vest. Flexing both arms to show his biceps, he boomed "My Lord, with arms like these I do not need to kick a man!" The judge told m'learned friend he had had his answer so would he continue.

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tilly
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Re: Woodhouse Feast / Armley Feast etc.

Post by tilly »

That made me laugh jma the good old days i would love to go back to that time even for a few days.
No matter were i end my days im an Hunslet lad with Hunslet ways.

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