Pat Collins Onion Funfair At The Serpentine Ground Witton

[Filmbuff]

I noted an article by some one who was interested in the Serpentine ground which was actually between the Aston Parish Church and a small Ansells pub.
I know this because as a child I visited it many times during the school holidays.
One of my visits was captured on 16mm coloured film together with many shots of the funfair in full swing showing some very unusual funfair activities that related to the years when I visited being the early 1950s
Regards
Filmbuff

 

[mw0njm.]

there is already a thread for the onion funfair...seek and ye shall find

Onion Fair

Hi all i am born and bred in Clifton Road Aston and i was that excited when the Onion Fair came to Aston watching the caravans coming up Park Road and i remember the Wall of Death and the smell of the fuel in the motorbikes best of all was watching your candyfloss being prepared going round in...

birminghamhistory.co.uk

 

[oldMohawk]

I noted an article by some one who was interested in the Serpentine ground which was actually between the Aston Parish Church and a small Ansells pub.

Regards
Filmbuff

A view of the fair in 1934 ...

An aerial view shows the fair in 1934.

source 'britainfromabove'

 

[Vivienne14]

Great view OM. Lots of detail like the bandstand at Aston Hall and the old Hall gateway opposite Aston Hall. Viv.

 

[Pedrocut]

July 1953 Pat Collins' Onion Fair at the Old Peck.

Golden years of Birmingham (1999)

 

[mw0njm.]

 

[John L]

View attachment 184794

I did, great fun, although my Dad had a sniper's eye with a rifle and always made sure we came away with something. Happy Days!

 

[mw0njm.]

I can remember the fairground a miniature rifle range or shooting galleryThey used .22 short ammo which was loaded up into a tube mag in the stock of pump action rifles. Originally the attendant just gave you the gun but then the guns were chained to the bench. At first by one chain and later by two. for security issues. At the time it was considered a fair bit of money for a few shots.1/- I think that the ammo was called something like >> Western kant splash by Winchester and was a disintegrating bullet especially made for close range gallery shooting. I remember that the guns were so worn out that it was luck if one hit the ping pong balls on the water spout but you might smash The third bottle to the right. And that was from No more than TEN paces

 

[A Sparks]

My mother was quite good on the shooting gallery but I can also remember she and my uncle saying that the sight on the guns was slightly twisted to discourage too many people from hitting the top spot on the target!

 

[mw0njm.]

every one i know who was a poor shot blamed the rifles. the old springer air rifle barrel was strong not bent or twisted it was out of the box not zero'd but after a few shot you saw were the pellet was hitting and corrected the aim point also ihe old Gat cork gun was good fun

 

[Pedrocut]

September 1937, Sunday Mercury.

 

[Pedrocut]

The advert above mentions Dragon and Peacock Scenic railway…

Scenic Rides

The successor to the Steam Switchback, was the electrically driven "Scenic Railway". These rides were similar in design to the Switchback, except that the "Cars" were powered by electric motors. This...

burrellscenic.weebly.com

 

[John L]

The advert above mentions Dragon and Peacock Scenic railway…

Scenic Rides

The successor to the Steam Switchback, was the electrically driven "Scenic Railway". These rides were similar in design to the Switchback, except that the "Cars" were powered by electric motors. This...

burrellscenic.weebly.com

Some marvellous rides there, including the one as advertised at the Onion Fair in 1937. It reminds me of the one that is at the Black Country Living Museum below:

 

[Pedrocut]

From 1937. Wonder Stratosphere Girl.

 

[Pedrocut]

January 1940, Birmingham Mail.

 

[John L]

From the Daily Gazette: The Stratosphere Girl - Camilla Mayer (second left in photo 4 above) - was one of the most remarkable and popular acts ever to appear in the old Butlin’s Pleasure Park Clacton from 1937 until war broke out in 1939. Her real name was Lotte Witte. She was born in 1918 in Stettin, Germany (today Szczecin, in Poland), the daughter of a plumber. She was 16 when she joined Camilio Mayer’s high-wire circus troupe in 1934.

Fearless and talented, she soon became the troupe’s star attraction, and Lotte became known as Camilla Mayer.
Her act consisted of performing extraordinary stunts perched on a two-inch wide platform on top of a steel pole anything up to 175-feet high, which she did in the popular seaside resort of Atlantic City, in the United States in 1936. Lotte made the headlines with this act as her daring feat was heralded as a world record at the time. On this platform she would stand on her head, hands or one toe. She brought her act to its climax by sliding along a rope from the pole to the centre of the park holding on by just her teeth.

Sadly, Camilla lost her life on January 20, 1940, when her sway pole broke during a performance at the Deutschlande Halle in Berlin. The crowded audience were watching her acrobatic feats, performed at the top of a 60ft steel tubular mast, when the mast snapped without warning. Miss Mayer fell into the arena striking a wooden balustrade, before dying in hospital. By the time of her death, the name of Camilla Mayer had become part of circus lore and legend, but for us in Clacton, the Stratosphere Girl will forever be associated with Butlin’s.

Link: https://www.gazette-news.co.uk/news/18410816.nostalgia-stratosphere-girl-remarkable-act-town/

 

[waverlee]

An old bloke known only as "old Charlie"worked on my dad's farm and one time I saw him at the local fair.
He was at the shooting stall and using,no doubt,one of the dodgy air rifles.He took aim and managed to
hit a teddy bear which fell off the shelf.The stallholder said"I suppose you want a prize now" to which old
Charlie replied "Yes,I'll have one of them clay pipes please"!
Tojo.