Annual fairs are common throughout the Midlands.
In Swadlincote ("Swad") and Newhall they are called "Wakes."
In Burton and Ashby they are "Statutes."
For an annual seaside outing, local firms clubbed together
and hired trains for their employees.
Hilary���� Do you have any childhood memories of the Wakes? (These are local street fairs)
Jeffrey �� Yes, I remember during the War everybody thought the wakes had gone, but they had them in the tram sheds at Swadlincote.� Not many people can remember that!� Yes, they had a permanent housing in the tram sheds.� And when we went to the pictures on a Saturday afternoon.� I always went to the Majestic, never to the Empire.� I can�t remember why, probably the Empire did not open on a Saturday afternoon.� Children�s matinee was always on a Saturday afternoon and it was a ha�penny when I first went, and a penny if you wanted to go upstairs.� And I�m not sure it wasn�t tuppence if you wanted to go on the back row, there was just one row upstairs that had double seats where you went with your girlfriend.� I can remember going there with my wife, in the double seats at the back.� But that was after the War.� When I first met my wife she was only fifteen, she was just starting nursing and I�d come home from the Air Force.� Also downstairs at the Majestic there was a row of double seats.� The reason I know most of that is that my aunt was an usherette.� I can remember John Avery starting, on his first day, you know, the one that was manager of the Palladium.
������������� The Wakes.� Oh yes, the first I can remember of them was when they were on the old engining ground, back of the Fire Station at Swadlincote.� Then they had them where the Post Office was at Swadlincote which is now defunct, on that piece of ground there.� They were boarded all the way round and you used to have to go in through a wicket.� I can remember them when they were at Newhall, next to the church, between there and the pub.
Hilary���� Was that the rec?
Jeffrey��� No, by the Horse and Jockey.� There used to be a market there as well.� That�s where the Newhall Wakes used to be; they didn�t go on to the rec for years and years after.� It was always there, and I think there was a lady called Mrs Harvey used to cook her fish and chips on it.
Hilary���� Old Ma Harvey?
Jeffrey��� That�s right, and just down from the Horse and Jockey there was a footpath that cut through the waste ground.� And that led down to another pub, I think it was called the Bird in Hand, which was the first start of Orchard Street.� And then it went right through and crossed Parliament Street.� They weren�t made up roads in those days.
Hilary���� And whereabouts were the tram sheds?
Jeffrey��� You know where the bridge is, and that garage, and just as you go over it was cobbled and it�s now one or two industrial units?� And standing back the building is still there, and that road that comes down and joins the main road; there were tramlines there.� I can remember them taking tram lines up in Swadlincote where the milk bar used to be.
Hilary���� One of my earliest memories is going on a works do from Swadlincote station.
Jeffrey��� When I came from grammar school I went to work at Pirelli, and I went on their first trip in forty six to Blackpool, and Briggs and a few companies they all had coaches on the train.� I went from Castle Gresley to Burton, and joined it there, with all the girls and lads that worked at Pirelli, from Castle Gresley.� There were about sixteen coaches.
Hilary���� Yes, my Dad took my sister and me but I wasn�t born till 1946 so the earliest it could have been was forty-nine or fifty.
Jeffrey��� And in Gresley they had fairs on the Common.
Hilary���� Have they always been on the Common?
Jeffrey��� Yes, I�ve never known a fair in Gresley other than on the Common. � But as I say I�ve known in Swadlincote at least three venues, that�s as well as where they have them now in the High Street. �
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7 More hardships of World War Two
8 Newhall Football Clubs and Pat's Sunday outings