Category: Fun Story

Catering, Event Planning, Fun Story, funfair events

Blast From The Past, A Look Back At Our Old Blog

5 June 2021

I was using the wayback machine recently to look up an old website. In case you don’t know it is a site that has indexed and stored past examples of peoples web pages so you can go back and look them up years later.

Looking around at some of our original blog posts that disappeared when our original blog software stopped working. In the old days we didn’t have Word Press and Blogger. Blogs were either hand built, or created using desktop software. We used a program called Tangelo, quite happily for a number of years. Anyway, I am going to reprint a few of the more humorous posts. Sadly on many of them the original images have not been stored, so they might be text only.

Bimbo’s Last Stand 2008

History is littered with tales of heroic last stands, usually against forces much bigger than the defenders, there was Rorkes drift, The Battle of Gandamak and The Battle of the Imjin River all fought by British troops, the Alamo and Battle of the Little Bighorn by our American cousins and the immortal Camarón which established the Foreign Legion as one of the world’s elite fighting forces.

Predating all of these was the Battle of Thermopylae in Greece when King Leonidas and his Spartan soldiers, accompanied by a force of allied Greek city states, held back a much larger Persian force under Xerxes for three days in one of the most memorable and eulogized last stands in classical antiquity. Well now we have another last stand on the island of Greece to rank up there with the battles of antiquity.

Bimbo Bishton

Bimbo Bishton, who we occasionally work with, has for a number of years provided Victorian carousels for the Christmas event in Athens. A venture which has proven both lucrative and enjoyable over the years. This year however there was the little problem of a major riot taking place after the shooting dead of a young Greek boy.

The rioters went berserk in the city square and flattened pretty much everything, setting fire to hotels, shops, cars and anything else that took their fancy. Slap bang in the middle of this stood alone the slightly portly figure of Bimbo armed only with 3 fire extinguishers, facing a crowd which Bimbo estimated at 100,000, but the BBC world service claimed to be around the 10,000 mark (I suppose when you are facing them alone it looks more like 100,000).

Petrol Bombs And Arsonists

I spoke to Bimbo about the events and he explained one particularly tense moment. It seems a young Greek man was holding a petrol bomb in one hand and trying unsuccessfully to strike his lighter in the other, all the time Bimbo was trying to convince him not to set fire to his ride, (Bimbo told me at this point he was debating whether or not to kick the said young man in the testicles), the potential arsonist appeared to be taking no notice of Bimbo when his lighter suddenly flared to life, he looked at Bimbo, shrugged his shoulders and promptly threw the bomb at the giant Christmas tree, so really it is Bimbo’s fault that the Athenians lost their famous tree. As the night wore on our intrepid hero was stoically holding his ground when a cloud of teargas drifted his way and proved to him why it was so named,

Athens Christmas Tree
Athens Christmas Tree

Bimbo said that at this point he was more interested in water for his eyes than in guarding the carousel, but luckily for him one of the rioters explained that water is no good for tear gas, you need lemon juice to neutralise the chemicals and obliged by providing some I can categorically state however that rumours Bimbo is thinking of setting up a Jif lemon stall at future events are untrue.

Thankfully both Bimbo and the Carousel survived the evening. Bimbo even remarked at how civilised the rioters were, as he put it, there were very few injuries and signs of violence against people, it all seemed to be directed at property, indeed one vendor in a street kiosk remained open throughout the riots and wasn’t molested in any way.

Oops 2009

Arthur almost struck again last weekend. What happened was this, we were contracted to supply 4 games units to an event in the North East. One of these games was our striker (test your strength machine) which is 13ft high. On arrival we were shown the room which would accommodate these games, including the high roofed part of the building where the striker was to be positioned. Due to the fact that once erected the striker would block the door, we were told that we couldn’t erect it until after all of the guests had arrived. This isn’t a problem as it takes a matter of seconds to assemble the device.

We carried it into the room and left it on the floor near to where it had to go. Almost everyone had arrived when we were told to put the striker up. As we pushed it skyward we discovered to our horror that the room was about 6 inches to low! As we stood there wondering where to go, one of the guys who had hired us told us to push the plastic roof tile out of place and let the striker poke into the attic.

We did this, but try as we might the tile remained wobbling in position. Arthur decided to go to the pool room and bring back a long extension bar to dislodge the tile, which he promptly did just as the managing director’s wife walked through the door. If she had been two steps quicker, Arthur would have subjected her to a drastic reshaping of her nose, something along the lines of amputation without a general anaesthetic!

Luckily everyone present had a sense of humour.

Flash Bang 2009

Coming back to the yard last week I notice a large stretch of the adjoining field being dug up. After investigating I discovered that the electricity company are removing the overhead power lines (which run over the middle of our property) and re routing them underground. This is an extremely good idea, especially considering what happened a few years back.

To protect those involved, I won’t name any names John Henry, but I was sat eating breakfast early one morning, contemplating starting to load everything up ready for the move to northallerton. At the time it was absolutely throwing it down with rain, and I didn’t really fancy making a start. Anyway, whilst I was psyching myself up, I suddenly heard a yell, followed by a crash, more yelling and some Anglo Saxon language. Coming out to investigate, I came across the unnamed person (John Henry) who was hobbling about with smoke coming from one of his boots.

Not Quite The Scene, But Close
Not Quite The Scene, But Close

What had happened was that he had an aerial mounted on a long pole, fastened to the drawbar of his trailer (caravan). To remove this ready for hitting the road he had to lift it up a couple of foot higher , the power cables ran directly overhead, and with the amount of moisture in the air, a spark of electricity had jumped from the power lines, into the Aerial, down the pole into his knee where the pole was resting and out through his boot to earth!, luckily when he dropped the pole he missed my car which was parked next to him so it could have been much worse.

The Really Really Great Garage Sale

we recently supplied a mulled wine and hot dog cart to an event in London. This was organised by a bunch of celebrity mums including Yasmin Le Bon and Louise Redknapp. I started the day by nearly walking into Yasmin Le Bon, and ended it by her just stopping short of driving into me.

One of our new recruits, Ray, pictured below(in his apron and plastic antenna) spotted someone he recognised part way through the day, “Look Oliver Lance”, he exclaimed.
“Who the heck is he”, I said, thinking it was some rugby player or sports personality.
“She’s off one of them Australian soaps”, said Ray
I wondered why she had a blokes name and asked Ray, “she hasn’t”, was the reply, “She’s called Oliver Lance”

Turned out he was talking about Holly Valance! You can take the guy out of Barnsley, but you can’t take Barnsley out of the guy.

It turned out a quite enjoyable day with amongst others Melanie Blatt, Trinny Woodhall, Christina Estrada all making an appearance.

Ray In His Apron
Catering, Event Planning, Fun Story, funfair events, Funfair Rides

Newcastle Hoppings, A Major Fair

1 June 2021

Newcastle Hoppings is the largest travelling funfair in Europe (though both Nottingham Goose fair and Hull Fair also claim the title). A major fixture in the funfair calendar. Held in the North East city of Newcastle Upon Tyne over 9 days in June.

With over 300,000 visitors a year, and featuring over 60 major adult rides, and a plethora of children’s rides, games and catering to match. The event is held in June to coincide with the Northumberland Plate. Part of the flat season races for horses of three years or older.

It is situated on the Town Moor, a large grazing land just outside the city centre (during the first world war it was held in Jesmond). The showmen commonly refer to the event as the Town moor, or even just ‘The Moor’, rather than the hoppings name used by the locals.

Temperance Festival Association

The driving force behind the establishment of the hoppings, was Alderman William Davies Stephens, chairman of the Temperance Festival Association. The association, typical of the Victorian era do gooders, felt that the horse race would attract drinking and gambling. They wanted to provide a temperance festival for the miners and other workers as an alternative, to save them from the fires of damnation.

I suppose in a way it was a better idea than the Americans had. Our abstinence gave us a major funfair, the American prohibition gave them Al Capone.

Early Years

In the beginning, the event will have been typical of fairs of that era, stalls, games and sideshows would have formed the bulk of the event. Indeed in the North East, funfairs are often referred to as ‘The shows’ in allusion to the preponderance of that type of attraction.

Funfair Sideshow
Funfair Sideshow

These tended to be animal managaries, or the popular at the time human freak shows. Large steam powered rides were appearing on funfairs by then, and quite possibly would have attended the hoppings, but at that time they were still a supporting act.

Over the next 50 years the event began to resemble what we would recognise today. With some of the early thrill rides appearing, Octopus, dive bomber, waltzers, all designed to fly you higher, spin you faster and scare witless.

Shaws Moonrocket
Shaws Moonrocket

A well known ride, the Moonrocket of Shaws, built in 1939. This was typical of the early rides that would have appeared at the Town Moor.

The Modern Era

Nowadays, well not 2020, and possibly not 2021 due to the little matter of a global pandemic, most of the top rides from around the UK appear at the event. Immaculate examples of the old favourites such as dodgems and Waltzers still jostle with the thrill rides for customers. There are fabulous examples of all the current funfair games, children’s rides and food stalls.

Newcastle Hoppings Funfair
Newcastle Hoppings Funfair

A look at the fair from the air shows the sheer scale of the event. Hull and Nottingham might possibly have more rides in attendance, or be classed as bigger due to some other statistic. But for sheer acreage, there isn’t anything else in the UK that comes near.

2013 was notable for the fair being cancelled due to the severe weather leaving the ground in a poor state. Work has since been carried out to improve drainage and add a metalled road to prevent a recurrence.

Charity

The event was always noted for the free riding the showmen provided for a number of charities, the Variety club would bus as estimated 3000 children in to enjoy the showmen’s efforts, usually on the first evening of the event.

Indeed records indicate that the very first year of the festival saw a tea provided for 1000 of the cities poorest children.

The Name Hoppings

When we used to attend the event, I often wondered about just why it was called the Hoppings. I presumed it was one of those stories lost in time. However recently I came across the official website for the event, maintained by the Freeman of the City/Newcastle Council. They offered two possible explanations for the name. One is that hopping was a very old name for a dance.

The other explanation the offer, is that the showmen used to wear sacks as cloths. These would become infested with fleas and the showmen being bitten would ‘hop’ about. Hmm, the photo below is a typical old image of showmen. Actually one of our earliest corporate entertainment crew who provided a show for Queen Victoria. Take a look, although it is in a poor state, it sure looks to me like they were wearing regular type cloths. Nary a cloth sack in sight.

Candy Floss Crazy Corporate Team
Candy Floss Crazy Corporate Team

Sources;

Discovering Heritage https://discoveringheritage.com/2019/06/27/the-first-newcastle-hoppings/

Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hoppings

Hoppings Funfairs http://hoppingsfunfairs.com/

Catering, Event Planning, Fun Story

13 Weird Hot Dogs From Around The World

27 May 2021

One of our most popular lines happens to be hot dogs. The standard hot dog, with mustard and ketchup has been a staple fast food, forever. When we decided to move it up a gear and offer hot dogs from around the world, with fillings such as sushi, nachos, even candy floss, we thought we were being a bit edgy.

Out of interest we started looking at what other countries actually offer in their dogs, boy were we surprised, what we thought was edgy was nothing compared to some of the crazy stuff you can eat in other parts of the world.

Here are a few of our favourites;

Tokkebi From South Korea, The Deep-fried Delight

Korean Hot Dogs
Korean Hot Dogs

Take one plain ole wiener, coat it in batter, deep fry it, then cover it in diced French fries. This is one crazy combo that could almost be a complete meal. Found mainly from street food vendors, the chips are sometimes replaced by ramen.

Choripan, Argentina’s Upgraded Dog

Choripan Hot-Dog
Choripan Hot-Dog

Argentina, famous for invading mall South Atlantic Islands, footballers who score goals with their hands, and Gabriela Sabatini. To be fair the footballer in question was also fabulous when he wasn’t cheating.

They also produce one heck of an hot dog. Not for them the usual mystery meat concoction of left over parts of various animals. No, they use a high quality Chorizo sausage, that is is seared to make it crispy, then slotted into a toasted bun. Add chimichurri sauce or tomato salsa and you have the final evolution of the hot dog.

Tunnbrödsrulle, The Crazy Swedes Entry Into The Hall Of Fame

Tunnbrödsrulle Hot Dog
Tunnbrödsrulle Hot Dog

This is what you get if you take a hot dog, stick mix it with onions, shrimp salad, lettuce, mashed taters, mayonnaise and stick it inside a tortilla. Oh and don’t forget to add the requisite mustard and ketchup.

It hard to tell if this is a hot dog or a sandwich wrap. Either way it ranks up their alongside Abba and Volvo in things to love from Sweden.

TBH it looks like the culinary version of a split personality, some sort of existential crisis wrapped in a flat bread.

Taiwanese Da Chang Bao Xiao Chang

Da Chang Bao Xiao Chang (1)
Da Chang Bao Xiao Chang (1)

The name of this fairly uneventful looking dog, translates as big sausage wrap small sausage. The bun you see in the picture isn’t. It is actually another sausage made from sticky rice. Add in sauces including black pepper and our favourite wasabi, and you have something unlike any other hot dog you will meet.

Chinese Pastry Hot Dog

chinese hot dog bun
chinese hot dog bun

If the Swedish entry is an existential crisis, this one is a full on split personality. Is it a dessert or is it a main. Take your bog standard frankfurter and wrap it in sweet pastry. Its so obvious, you wonder why no one else is doing it.

They also come coated with different topping such as cheese, icing frosting, egg dough. Its as if you have been talking in your sleep about your favourite foods, and an alien has decided to make them for you, having never actually seen them before.

Khanom Tokyo, Is It A Hot Dog Or A Breakfast Roll

Khanom Tokyo
Khanom Tokyo

Thailand takes the existential crises of the Taiwanese hot dog and takes it to the stage of certifiably insane. Of all the things you would naturally think to stick a hot dog in, a pancake would surely be the first thing that comes to mind.

Made from flat pancakes that have a mixture of savoury and sweet ingredients such as quail eggs, sugar ,cream, Someone in Thailand came up with the idea of sticking a sausage in. The dish is said to hail from around 1960 and was served at the opening of a Japanese department store (which could explain the craziness), its now a staple of Thai street food.

Czech Párek V Rohlíku Hot Dog

Czech Párek V Rohlíku
Czech Párek V Rohlíku

Compared to the oriental offerings this one is plain simple. A hot dog in a bun. Where it does differ slightly from what you are used to, is that this is pretty much like the roller dogs you sometimes see in service stations. A crusty bun that has had the middle cut out and the sausage inserted. Quite neat really, though you need to add your toppings before you had the dog.

Brazil’s Completo Hot Dog

Cachorro Quente Brazilian-Hot-Dog
Cachorro Quente Brazilian-Hot-Dog

This one is less of a fast food snack and more of a meal for 2, Take a hot dog sausage, stick it in a large flattened bun, add ground beef, peas, corn niblets, bell peppers, onions, potato sticks, parmesan cheese, carrots, diced ham or bacon, cilantro, and top it off with a hard boiled quail egg. It is a wonder the Brazilians aren’t all the size of the Americans.

Peru’s Salchipapas Hot Dogs

Salchipapa peru
Salchipapa peru

A weird one this, there is no bun and the hot dog is sliced. Placed on a bed of fries and garnished with the usual mustard and ketchup, then chilli sauce and mayo for added tang. You can also throw in salad, fried egg and cheese. A staple street food found in various South American countries this ain’t what springs to mind when you say hot dogs.

Puka Dog Hawaii

Puka Dog
Puka Dog

A mish mash of hot dog traditions this one. A Polish sausage, grilled then slipped into a sweet bun. Dress with relishes, garnishes and tropical mustards and voila, another entry into the hot dog hall of fame.

Norwegian Pølse Hot Dogs

Norwegian Hot Dog
Norwegian Hot Dog

You don’t get much simpler than this, well there are some single celled organisms I suppose, and that lad I once sat next to at school, but in the hot dog world this is bare bones. Sort of the Trabant of dogs. Simple, easy to make, no frills and it just works.

A tortilla, with a sausage in and a dollop of condiments. Enough said about Norwegian dogs.

Denmark’s Pølser

Denmark's Pølser
Denmark’s Pølser

Though it shares a name with it’s Norwegian neighbour, the Danish version is a whole different beast. The sausage spills out of the bun, both ends, its filled with Danish remoulade, sliced pickles and onions and tends to be served on special occasions. The one stand out feature is the sausage which is a vibrant red colour, reminiscent of the British saveloy. It originates from bygone times, when vendors would dip their poor quality sausages in red dye to ‘spruce’ them up.

New Zealand Hot Dog

New Zealand Hot Dog
New Zealand Hot Dog

Our cousins across the Ocean’s take on a hot dog is very similar to what our other cousins across a different ocean (the Yanks) would term a corn dog. Basically a battered sausage, deep fried and served on a stick, with ketchup.

However you look at it, the humble hot dog is as near to a universal food as you will find. Sure, some cultures take it in a weird (to us) direction, but at the heart of them is usually the hot dog sausage.

Event Planning, Fun Story, funfair events, Funfair Rides

“Work From Home…If You Can”

23 May 2021

‘Work from home if you can’, has been the echoing call, since the first lock down in march. The call from Boris Johnson and his team.

Due to the current pandemic many businesses have been closed and working from home has been of paramount importance. With many people turning rooms in their homes, or escaping to the garage to put together a make shift office.

One you probably wouldn’t think of is a work from theme park set up. In Japan they have announced a new initiative in order to encourage working from home. The initiative being to utilize their theme parks. A large theme park in Tokyo is offering ‘workcation’ packages. Giving employees across Japan the opportunity to work next to a beautiful pool or even on a Ferris wheel! yes that’s right you can work from a Ferris wheel.

The park charges 1,900 yen which is roughly around £14 for a weeks ticket pass. The pass includes a booth located at the pool and an hour in a private carriage on the Ferris Wheel. WIFI services are located throughout ready for you to connect your laptop or tablet to.

The Yomiuriland theme park

Japans, Work From Home Management

Japan, although a large country has managed the pandemic very well and is currently near normality with the rest of the theme park also open, which means that after a hard days work you can pay a little bit extra and purchase a park ticket allowing you to chill and unwind on all the fairground rides available…although remember you cant scream on the scary rides because that is against the covid rules.

Japan has primarily moved their businesses to being based at home. The government requested companies to have around 70% of their employees working from home. With this in mind they have been coming up with new inventive ways to encourage staff to take this option, Firstly they introduced the Theme park scheme, and then secondly they placed workstatiosn around National parks that people could rent and visit in a hope that people would reconnect with nature.

An  IT solutions firm FLEQ was among one of the first companies to encourage employees to work from the theme park. In the first week around 10 employees used the amusement park as their new office. Feedback from the employees was all very positive! however some said it was hard to concentrate at first as once on the Ferris wheel they just wanted to admire the view!.

An employee working from inside the Ferris Wheel carriage.
Fun Story

Sometimes It’s Not Us It’s Them, Tales Of Misadventures

19 May 2021

There are occasions when a sequence of unfortunate occurrences seem to to line up like holes in a Swiss cheese, and dump a whole load of hassle on us. However there are also occasions when we have hassle due solely to dealing with other people. Whoever coined the phrase ‘The customer is always right’ obviously never had any customers.

We are going to note just a few of the times that thing’s have gone a bit Pete Tong, without any help from us.

Educated Idiots

The first couple of tales involve what a friend of my mind refers to as educated idiots. Basically those in a position where they need to be educated, and you also assume that education correlates to intelligence.

The University Of Oxford

Now, a few years back a close friend had been contracted in to provide a Ferris wheel for a ball at one of the colleges in Oxford. His wheel was a really nice example, well decorated, plenty of lights and well maintained. William, the owner, rang me to ask if we had been paid up front for that job. As it happens we had. ‘That’s good’ he noted, ‘The Dean of the college has told me the ride is a disgrace and wants it taking away.’

I was a bit confused by this as I knew it was a good ride. William had no idea why, so I sent him to see the Dean and ask.

When he rang me back he couldn’t talk for laughing. Eventually we got to the bottom of it. Now, a Ferris wheel is constructed by building two parallel spoked wheels, and then hanging cars at the end of the spokes for the guests to sit in. William had got the two wheels constructed, but not yet fastened the cars on. It seems the Dean had looked at the ride, sans the cars, and assumed that his students would have to cling to the ride as it rotated forty feet in the air. His comment was ‘They could be killed if they fall from that height.’

The cars were pointed out to him, and he calmed down at that point so all was good.

Ferris Wheel Under Construction
Ferris Wheel Under Construction

The School Headmistress

The second case involved a primary school in Kingston Upon Hull. To set the scene I need to tell you about our first blog. We launched that in the early days of the internet, and still finding our feet about what to write, we tried all sorts of humerous posts.

On one, we had been moaning about the difficulties of securing good staff, so announced that we were going to clone Arthur. Arthur was a sort of casual business partner that was only little, and resembled a smaller version of Austin Powers.

Anyway, after a few posts on the problems with our cloning process, we proudly announced that we had succeeded and created New Arthur. This post was accompanied by a picture of the rubber goblin below.

New Arthur
New Arthur

It wasn’t quite as successful a cloning as we had hoped but we didn’t think it was bad for the first attempt. We kept the joke running all season. We pictured him holding a stick of candy floss, and remarked how well he had done. Learning to make candy floss and so on.

Now, back to the hero of our tale. We had been booked to provide a candy floss cart for a small school fayre in Hull. The headmistress rang us to apologise but she needed to cancel the booking. Now this happens occasionally so it isn’t a problem. We enquired as to the reason just so we could keep a record. ‘Well’, says she, ‘I don’t want to be rude or nasty but it’s your new staff.’

I admit to being nonplussed at this point as we had recently took a couple of kids on for some casual work, and they were doing really well, so I couldn’t understand her problem. So I asked.

Scary Staff

‘Well,’ she replies, ‘I don’t want to sound awful or anything, but we are a school for young children. I think your new staff will frighten them, he does look rather scary.’

I must admit I was still a bit non compos mentis and didn’t follow.

‘You know the one, Arthur, the one you have cloned!.

Oh FFS, she meant the rubber doll, I admit I burst out laughing at her as I thought she was playing a joke. Only she wasn’t and got rather abrupt at this point. This was in the pre Dolly the sheep days, so not only was human cloning not a thing. But we hadn’t even managed to clone any other mammals. We explained this to her, and also that even if human cloning was a thing, it would likely be beyond the finances of a small entertainments company to fund.

In the end she kept the booking, but expressed her opinion that we shouldn’t lead people on with false stories

Oh and an interesting fact, Dolly the sheep was so named, because she was cloned from a mammary gland. The scientists looking for a name, couldn’t think of a more impressive pair of mammary glands than Dolly Parton’s.

Enter The Military

We love military jobs, they usually run on time, the people are great fun and the discipline that is inherent in that world means we rarely have an issues.

One of my best event managers Ian, had taken a photo booth to a base. He rang me to say that he couldn’t take much more abuse from the Major in charge. Not a problem I told him, dismantle the booth and come home. He was worried that we wouldn’t get paid, but I told him to leave that to us. We don’t allow our staff to be abused for any amount of money.

Anyhow, we didn’t hear from him so rang to find out what he was doing.

‘Oh, it’s OK, we are best friends now.’

‘Oh, and how did you manage that.’

‘Well, I was in the toilets at the same time as he was, so I thought I would try one last time, and said OK mate. He turned looked me up and down and said what the f**k has it got to do with you. Oh, nothing, only before you go back in the party, I would wipe that cocaine powder from off your top lip, being military and all I don’t think that will go down too well’

Ian said that the guy turned up 5 minutes later with another soldier, told him that anything he needed the other guy would get for him and put it on the Majors bar tab. If you need a smoke break just close the photo booth down, whenever you want. In fact said Ian, I think if I ask for his wife for the weekend he would probably bring her over.

So no matter how hard you try. Things can trip you up through no fault of your own.

Fun Story, funfair events, Funfair Rides

Eyerly Aircraft Company, A Manufacturer Profile

15 May 2021

There aren’t a great deal of amusement ride manufacturers that started life building aeroplanes. The American Eyerly Aircraft CO. was initially set up to manufacturer training aids for pilots. The first was the curiously entitled ‘Whiffle Hen’, an airplane which only used two gallons of fuel per hour of flight.

Whiffle Hen
Whiffle Hen

The craft derived it’s name from a bird thought to be good luck that appeared in the Popeye cartoons, everyone thinks Popeye gained his strength from eating spinach, but in the early days he used to rub the whiffle hen instead.

Lee Eyerly’s dream was to make flight available to all classes, not just the rich. He was responsible for building Salem Airport, and ran a flight training school, as well as taking people up in his own plane at fairs and events.

His second great invention was the Orientator, basically and airplane fuselage suspended between what looked like a giant tuning fork. The wind from the propellor streamed across the aircraft wings and surface controls and allowed the pilot to bank climb and roll, just like in a real aircraft but without the cost and danger associated.

Orientator
Orientator

A few were sold (including four to the Cuban air force), but sales began to slow down. It was suggested by someone who remains unrecorded by history, that he take the device to a local funfair, or Midway as our American cousins refer to them. Allegedly he also sold rides in a real aeroplane that he flew, but soon noticed that the queue for the Orientator was far longer than for the real plane.

That lighbulb moment saw the focus of his company switch to amusement ride manufacturing. The trainer was re christened the Acroplane and was sold purely as an amusement device.

Line Of Amusement Rides

This was just the beginning. The ride was quickly followed by the Loop-O-Plane, Roll-O-Plane, Spider, Fly-O-Plane, all designed to give people a taste of what it was like to fly, just at that period in history when Aviation was beginning to take off, excuse the pun.

Fly O Plane
Fly O Plane
Roll O Plane
Roll O Plane

The Rock O Plane was invented in 1947, and the ride type still survives on many funfairs today. Some in the original style, others have been modified to create a slightly more thrilling and up to date ride.

Rock-O-Plane
Rock-O-Plane

The Octopus

Perhaps his most popular ride was the Octopus. Little seen nowadays on the modern fairground, there are still a few doing the vintage circuit at shows and rally’s, but it is considered a bit tame for the modern generation of thrill seekers.

Octopus Ride
Octopus Ride

The company continued in the business up until the mid 1980’s. Sadly in 1988 at a Florida fair, an arm on an Octopus ride snapped. The arm was suffering from metal fatigue. The crack was paint covered and unnoticed by both the ride owner and the State inspector. A 17 year old girl died from head injuries. In the wake of the lawsuit that followed, the company closed its doors in 1990.

The genesis of the Eyerly Aircraft Company was certainly unique as ride manufacturers go.

Sources;

Consumer Product Safety Commission https://www.cpsc.gov/manufacturer/eyerly-aircraft-company

Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eyerly_Aircraft_Company

Lagoon History https://lagoonhistory.com/project/eyerly-aircraft/

Atlas Obscura https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/classic-carnival-rides-are-flight-simulators-in-disguise

Event Planning, Fun Story, funfair events, Funfair Rides

The Dive Bomber, History Of an Iconic Ride

10 May 2021

Most of the early funfair rides were things like carousels, Noah’s arks and dodgems. Exciting rides, but all with a similar movement, you go around in circles. What we would call thrill rides came later, and nowadays most of the high thrill attractions have you leave the ground. One of the earliest examples of this was the Dive Bomber.

Initially created by the Eyerly Aircraft company which was formed to create equipment to help train pilots. They moved into the amusement ride arena, and gradually moved away from their original business model. Much of what they designed had an aviation feel, and the dive bomber was no exception.

Roll O Plane

Roll O Plane
Roll O Plane

Patented in 1938 by Eyerly, as the ‘Roll-O-Plane’, the ride had two cylindrical shaped cars on the end of a rotating boom. As the arm rotated the ends of the cylinders rotated to keep the riders sitting upright. The chain drive made it a particularly noisy ride, added to the usual decor of a fighter plane and it was an imposing, thrilling ride for the era.

Lusse Dive Bomber

Lusse Dive Bomber
Lusse Dive Bomber

Lusse Brothers of Blackpool (American designers) developed the ride for the UK market under licence from Eyerly. Building their first version in 1939 and the last of 25 examples in 1949. With the recent end of WWII the ride was perfectly themed for the fairgoers of that era.

One of the drawbacks was its low passenger capacity, but a number of enterprising UK showmen, joined two rides together to double this as in the Carters model above.

The rides were a high maintenance device and eventually fell out of favour, I can just remember them as a kid in the 80’s and only for a few years. Truth be told I seem to remember them having a propensity to fold up, what Elon Musk would call a RUD (rapid unscheduled disassembly). The testing regime in those days wasn’t as developed as today, with x-ray and dye penetration testing, so I think the metal was a little overstressed for the job it was doing.

The Modern Bomber

Fabbri Booster
Fabbri Booster

Like many things in life, the wheel turned and a new version appeared. Built by Italian manufacturer Fabbri as the Booster Maxx, this is a much bigger, much faster and carries a lot more riders (up to 16). It is also a lot more sturdily constructed with modern techniques and materials. It is easily one of the highest and fastest rides on the circuit. Bringing the same aerial thrills to new generations.

Sources;

National Fairground and Circus Archive https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/nfca/researchandarticles/divebomber

Fun Story

Darts Games, Tips For Winning At The Funfair

2 May 2021

There are usually a plethora of darts games at any funfair event. Darts are easy, anyone can throw a dart, they don’t cost a lot to set up so they tend to be popular.

Funfair Darts

One point to remember is that the darts on a fairground will have been used thousands of times, so they tend to be about as sharp as your elbow. They are also cheaply made, they don’t have the balance and accuracy of a competition set and the flights are usually a bit ragged. Some operators will let you use your own darts, so it is always worth asking.

Bust A Balloon

One popular game looks to easy to be true. You throw a dart and buts a balloon, easy peasy right? Sadly it is too easy to be true. The balloons are only partially inflated, so they tend to have a massive amount of flexibility. Coupled to the aforementioned non razor sharp darts they tend to be surprisingly difficult to pop. It is certainly possible to win, but don”t think it is easy.

Bust A Balloon Game
Bust A Balloon Game

Stick 3 Separate Cards

Another mainstay game. Stick a dart in three different cards, its only about a six foot throw so any competent dart player should walk this one. Ha, the cards tend to be mounted on quite dense wooden panels, a nice steady accurate throw will see your dart bounce off. Just hitting the card is no good, the dart actually has to remain stuck in the card.

There is also a subtle variation which helps you lose. This one tends to have more cards on the board so it looks easier, but you need to have not only three separate cards, but they have to be separate suites and separate numbers. As in many things no one reads the rules so they tend not to pick up on the rules until after the have thrown the darts.

If you can swing using your own darts it’s definitely much easier, though it will probably ruin the tips of your darts, so don’t use an expensive set.

RTFR

Or in full, “Read The F***ing Rules”. One of the biggest problems with darts games is the one where as you walk up you see a giant teddy with a sign hung around it’s neck proudly proclaiming “ME IF YOU LOSE”.

Sauntering up to the stall, you pony up your £1-50 to have a try. I mean it’s a no brainer, it’s only going to cost you £1-50. The worst you can do is walk away with a prize that would retail for 40 quid at least.

The darts are thrown and yippee, you have won, it was so easy you wonder that anyone ever loses. You bask in the sunlight of glory, for once you are one of life’s winners. Oh your face is a picture when the guy on the stall hands you a keyring as your prize. You start to argue, which is when he points to the rule board, it shows clearly the paltry prizes for winning. The super stuff is reserved for the losers on this one. And that is the rub. You can lose but it’s bloody difficult.

Usually it is three darts, you have to score over 6 to win with three separate numbers. Sticking the same number twice will be counted as 6, and missing the board will also be counted as 6. In fact the only was to lose is to score 1,2,3.

All they have really done is swap win and lose around. It relies on peoples greed blinding their common sense. This isn’t exclusive to darts games and similar techniques can be found on other stalls.

Catering, Event Planning, Fun Story, funfair events

Our 10 Favourite Jacket Potato Fillings

28 April 2021

Jacket spuds, baked taters, call them what you will. Definitely one of our favourite catering options. Especially as in the current quest for healthier options these are quite easy to use. We take a look at some of our most popular jacket potato filling, as well as some others available throughout the world.

1 Beans and Cheese

This one is oh so simple, and oh so delicious. Heinz beans of course with a nice mature cheddar. Not high on the excitement stakes, but easily our most requested filling. Unless we are dealing with Eastern Europeans. It seems that this isn’t a natural combination for them. And we have heard that the Yanks don’t go a bundle for it either, but looking at their cuisine we aren’t too upset by that.

Beans Cheese Jacket Potato
Beans Cheese Jacket Potato

2 Chilli Con Carne

Our MD’s favourite. Ground beef chilli, with plenty of peppers topped with avocado, sour cream and chives. Almost as popular with our clients, again excluding the Eastern Europeans who are worried by the word chilli, they expect it to blow your head off.

baked chilli jacket potatoes
baked chilli jacket potatoes

3 Tuna And Sweetcorn

Our top rated cold filling. Juicy tuna, sweetcorn all mixed in a mayonnaise base. A pinch of radish for seasoning and a little side salad. Much healthier than the usual burger and chips.

Tuna Sweetcorn Jacket
Tuna Sweetcorn Jacket

4 Vegetable Curry

This is one that the Eastern European guests actually enjoy. In fact on the recent series of jobs we did where the bulk of the staff were from that part of the world we couldn’t make it fast enough. So now we know their favourite jacket potato filling. Only mild, but with a nice range of veggie ingredients.

Jackets And Curry
Jackets And Curry

5 Chicken Curry

One for the carnivores this time, another fairly mild curry, but with juicy tender chicken pieces. Add a little coleslaw and a side salad and you have a nice balanced meal.

Chicken Curry
Chicken Curry

6 Bacon and Cheese

Bacon and cheese, two of our favourite things. What’s not to like. Nice smoked bacon, mature cheddar, mixed up and lightly roasted a second time to melt the cheese. Yum.

Bacon Cheese
Bacon Cheese

7 Prawns

Prawns in a prawn mayo sauce. Another cold topping that it healthy and delicious. Add the obligatory side salad and you have a winner. Unless of course you don’t like prawns.

Prawns Jacket Potato
Prawns Jacket Potato

8 Cottage Cheese And Pineapple

A fusion of tastes here, sweet chunks of pineapple, with lashings of cottage cheese. A milder flavour than our use mature cheddar this one is high in proteins and essential nutrients.

Cottage Cheese Pineapple
Cottage Cheese Pineapple

9 World’s Most Expensive Jacket Potato

Not one of ours, though we would be quite happy to add it to your menu if you are happy to pay the premium. This one was created by the chef at the Cary Arms in Babbacombe Devon. Most of the potato is spooned out and replaced with a mixture of creme fraiche, lemon, chives and spring onions topped by Italian Calvisius caviar. Served with balsamic roasted vine tomatoes and a glass of champagne. £40 lets you try this culinary masterpiece.

Worlds Most Expensive Jacket Potato
Worlds Most Expensive Jacket Potato

10 Sweet Jacket Potato With Roast Grape, Goats Cheese and Honey

Again not one of ours, but this in definitely on the list to try at the next event. Sweet potato with a mixture of roast grapes honey and goats cheese.

These are only a sample of what is available. If you are holding an event and require a jacket potato stall we can work with you on a customised menu just for you.

Event Planning, Fun Story, funfair events, Funfair Games

History Of Crazy Golf

24 April 2021

One of our favourite games, which is lately seeing something of a resurgence. Easily playable by both young and old, it has something for everyone. Let’s take a quick look at the history of crazy golf.

The game has various names around the world, including mini golf, midget golf, goofy golf, and putter golf. The last name probably being the most accurate as the game is basically the putting part of its parent game.

Historic Crazy Golf
Historic Crazy Golf

Golf proper, has a long history. Mention is made of King James II banning the game as it distracted his archers from their practise. Happily James IV decided to repeal the ban for the good reason that he liked playing the game.

There are ancient examples of a similar game being played as far back as 8th Century China, though no doubt if written history existed there may well as been cavemen who likes whacking stones around with their clubs.

Historic Chinese Golf
Historic Chinese Golf

Like many things there isn’t a definite ‘inventor’ of the mini golf game. Our Victorian forebears, with their great fear of mixing the genders, dedicated a putting green annex for female players at the famous St Andrews course.

Artificial courses, with obstacles began to emerge during the first part of the 20th Century. The Illustrated London News documented a course in it’s 8th June 1912 edition, called Gofstacle.

Across The Pond

In America, where else, the first mass produced mini golf courses were designed. The first of note was christened ‘Thistle Du’ anc built in Pinehurst North Carolina in 1916.

1927 saw a huge step forward when Garnet Carter created a suitable artificial green made from sand, oil, dye and cottonseed hulls that had been invented by Thomas Fairbairn, a cotton plant owner.

This allowed the game to be installed anywhere, indeed by the late 20’s there were an estimated 150 roof top courses in New York City alone. With tens of thousands across the States. At one point it’s estimated that 2 million people a day were playing the game. The course designed by Garnet was sold as a starter kit for $4500 (about $75,000 now) for which you received the obstacles, equipment and layout design.

Sadly, like many booming industries, mini golf was virtually wiped out across the States by the great depression.

On The Continent

Across the channel, the first documented course was built by a Herr Schroder in Hamburg, Germany. Being inspired from a course he played on a visit to America.

In fact like many modern trends, the game spread out from the USA. The Norman brothers returned to Sweden from there, and promptly formed the company of Norman och Norman Miniatyrgolf, selling a standardised course across Sweden.

The Swedish Minigolf Federation was founded in 1937 and remains the oldest minigolf organisation in the World, with national championships being played since 1939.

The Americans of course commercialised the game, with the first national competition being held in 1930, with a top prize of $2000 equivalent to around $30,000 today.

Mini Golf Obstacles

By the end of the 30’s the familiar obstacles such as windmills and buildings were being added to the game, making it much more like what we consider crazy golf to be nowadays. Many of these were introduced by Joseph and Robert Taylor, two brothers from New York. Many customers and competitors asked if they would build obstacles for them. In the early 1940’s the brothers formed a company to supply the industry.

Even the U.S. military bought from them. Shipping a number of prefabricated courses overseas during the Korean and Vietnam wars. For the troops to use during rest and relaxation periods.

Surface Material

Courses in Europe and the U.K. tended to use tennis field sand bordered by wooden frames as a playing surface. The Americans used the newly developed felt materiel. Being far superior due to its ability to allow water to pass through. Meaning it could be used in inclement weather.

1950 Golf Course
1950 Golf Course

Towards the end of the 1950’s virtually all suppliers carried Taylor Brothers obstacles making them an industry standard. Throughout the 50’s these had been developed to include obstacles with spinning blades and such that required not only accuracy but split second timing.

Modern Mini Golf

Nowadays the game is governed by the World Minigolf Federation, based in Goteborg Sweden. Organising World Championships for everything from kids through to elite players.

There are a number of standardised courses approved by them allowing comparisons for players around the world. The current world record for one round of 18 hole minigolf is 18 strokes. More than a thousand players achieving this score. It should be noted that virtually all of these are on a playing surface made from eternite a fibre cement product. The more popular felt courses seem to be more difficult to play with far fewer players managing a perfect score.

Eternite Golf Course
Eternite Golf Course

Some Crazy, Crazy Golf Courses

Ahlgrim Funeral Home

Below a Chicago Funeral home is a course designed to allow mourners to take their minds off bereavement. Along with arcade machines and videogames.

Funeral Home Crazy Golf
Funeral Home Crazy Golf

New Brighton Championship Course

This course contains replicas of a number of different famous championship holes from the Island Green 17th at TPC Sawgrass or the 18th at St Andrews.

New Brighton Course
New Brighton Course

Glow In The Dark Golf

A course in the Netherlands came up with the wacky idea for a glowing golf course. It also has the added quirk of being an adventure story, as completing the holes give you the clues you need to rescue a kidnapped singer.

Glow In The Dark Golf Course
Glow In The Dark Golf Course

Holy Crazy Golf Course

This one not only improves your golf score, but saves your soul. Designed around stories from the bible with holes such as Jonah and whale, or Moses and Mount Sinai. You can visit it at the Lexington Centre in Kentucky U.S.A. (where else).

Holy Golf Course
Holy Golf Course

Mayday Golf

Another wacky themed course. You are a survivor of an airplane crash. You use your rescued golf clubs to put your way through various survival scenarios to reach the rescue helicopter at the end. See it at Myrtle Beach South Carolina.

Mayday Mini Golf
Mayday Mini Golf

Leisureland Golf

This entry if from the artist Doug Fishbone. He wanted to draw attention to the plight of migrants, refugees and police brutality. So he pulled together a course of political statements.

Migrant Golf Course
Migrant Golf Course

The history of crazy golf is littered with examples of weird and wacky golf themes. Really the game is a blank canvas and you can have anything you like.

Sources;

Crazy Golf Museum http://www.crazygolfmuseum.info/miniature_golf_history.html

Mini Golf Creations https://www.minigolfcreations.com/history-of-mini-golf/