It was always so exciting when the fair came to Cambridge when I was a child; there was a particular smell, of candy-floss and engines and a particular fair-smell that was indeterminate but I would recognize today with my eyes closed. There was the noise of the rides, of the shouts of the people advertising their stalls, the screams of people on the Octopus or the Waltzer, and the music blaring out from everywhere… and of course the commotion of people laughing, talking, shouting, enjoying themselves. It was so bright and colourful… and I’m talking at a time about ten or so years after the end of the war, when people still did not have a lot of money or luxuries. My favourite ride was (and still is) the Jollity Farm, those magnificent painted horses and other animals… ride on one and you were taken into your dreams!
When I was older we were taken to the fair in the evening, and some how it was almost better when it was a miserable night because the glow of the fairy-lights, and the steam rising from the hot machinery, and the fug of sweet smells of toffee-apples and candy floss, and the savoury smells of frying onions and sausages for hot-dogs (no beef burgers then!) and the misty brightness of it all was enchanting! The other day I saw a couple of stalls… and it made me think back to going to the fair!
Lois Elsden 
Lois, is this the fair that was mounted each year on Midsummer Common? What a lovely city Cambridge is.
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Yes, Don! I think it still happens now but very much louder and bigger!
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