THIS IS FINDON - Peter Joins The Fair

THIS IS FINDON VILLAGE — these Findon Chronicles are created by Valerie Martin and contain scenes from her home village of Findon,
West Sussex, U.K. Everyday stories about real people.

Leslie Burt the auctioneer surrounded by an eager audience of be-hatted gentlemen at the Findon Sheep Fair in September 1936.

PETER JOINS THE FAIR

Copyright Valerie Martin 2003.

Published in the Findon News in September 2004

The following are reminiscences of the Findon Sheep Fair of yesteryear ....

Bill Day who was born in 1929 has given me his Sheep Fair memories of when he was a boy —

"When you looked from the village at the surrounding hillsides they changed colour, when the sheep were brought to Nepcote Green for the sheep fair. Great swirls of white blotted out the green hillsides. Soon the village
was clogged with sheep.

Shepherds kinda halted and adjourned to The Gun leaving the dogs and a few very young shepherd boys in their smocks to bring the flocks to the ready erected wattle pens.

This gave us lads the opportunity of calling on the people living in Nepcote Lane and the adjoining Lanes. We asked them if they like us to see that their gate remained closed while the sheep passed by. A penny and the gate wasn't quietly unlatched. Old residents smiled and gave willingly, some new ones learnt the hard way.

These kind donations we spent at the fair on the roundabout, swings and other attractions. Residents swept and cleaned up after the sheep had finished passing, ensuring a good future harvest in the vegetable gardens.

The days of a village with traffic and even people coming to a standstill for hours while sheep passed alas
are gone".

Peter Shayler was also born in 1929 but he lived in London during the Second World War before coming to West Sussex. One day I was asked if Peter was the gentleman who used to work at the Harris' fair that came annually to the Findon Sheep Fair. I decided to ask him if he graduated to having his own fairground.

This encouraged me to set about unearthing the mystery of the boy who joined the fair.....

20th March 2003.

Dear Miss Martin,

As you know I worked on various farms when I left school but after a time I realised there was not much future in farm work and decided to try something else.

As I was interested in fairs etc., I got a job working for Harris' Fair from Ashington. Actually it was sort of a working apprenticeship and I was employed by the original Harris brothers, Edward and Fred at a time when they both had young families, which caused them to employ a fairly large staff to travel with their equipment.

We were living in, and all our food was supplied by their wives. I was allocated to Fred's wife, Hilda. She looked after us all properly and always helped us in any way she could. Even though she also had seven children of her own to bring up, there was always a roast dinner on Sundays (with afters) and really she could cope with any problem she came across, including the weather, although we used to help her with the water and various other jobs.

It was certainly different to nowadays. As now the fairground staffs are usually sent to the nearest hot dog or junk food trailer and left to fend for themselves.

Also the wages were paid promptly on the Sunday night. All in all, it was organised properly in those days.

After a while, I got married and then went away and started a small fair of my own. This is now carried on by my son Peter David Shayler and his son, Peter William Shayler, with the help of my daughter-in-law, Teresa. So there are still plenty of Peter Shaylers about.

All this was a good start for me, what with the Canadians, and the two Harris brothers from whom I learned much about lorries, and also hard work, which always helps one with the problems you always get in later life.

Now I have a query for you to find out about.

I was told by a reliable source that two skeletons were found at the top of Glasby Lane, Washington, under the floor of a blockhouse on the right hand side of the road to Highden Beeches — where the flame throwers used to operate.

Are they Canadian soldiers or somebody else? Surely the local police would know if it is true or not.

Peter Shayler, Upper Beeding, West Sussex.

Has anyone heard the story of the remains discovered under the blockhouse? If you have, I would love to hear from you. It sounds like another story worth writing if only I can get the information......

Sadly, Peter Shayler died in 2004.

Below is a picture from the Findon Sheep Fair of 1938 at a time when Bill and Peter were attending the auctioning of sheep... note the old wattles behind the group....

From left to right: Dennis Hazelgrove, Poppy Ade, John Pelling (age 2) being held by Chrissie Barbara Pelling, Violet Pelling (John's mother), Brian Pelling,.... and Gwen and David Whittington.

Continue if you would like to read A Good Shepherd Never Gets Wet.

Back to Great Findon Sheep Fair Index

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This is Findon Village — www.findonvillage.com is a continually growing record created by Valerie Martin exclusively for documenting life in Findon.

Do let me know of anything you hear about Findon - not too controversial. Please note that opinions expressed in the Findon Chronicles are not necessarily reflective of my own thoughts.... but sometimes they are!