Stories by Anne Knight
Market Fair
Today was a dry day, the autumn sun shone through the church, its
shadow like a ray of sunshine. After service had a coffee, like we do. I
was just leaving when a friend said to me: ‘There’s a fair in the Market
Hall’.
Going down by the side of the Market Hall, I entered it and had a good
look round. One lady was wearing a forties hat and speaking to her
reminded me of my mother, for she had a hat just like it. The lady
smiled. A nearby stall had old postcards but I didn’t buy, just looked.
I nearly bought a doll which needed restringing but as I looked further
at one of its legs it had been glued. The head, the arms, the body plus
one leg was OK. I thought the price rather dear as I would have to
re-string the doll. The cost was over seven pounds.
As I wandered around I looked at the old dresses. One young lady bought
a lovely velvet dress with a white collar. This reminded me of the book
‘Ballet Shoes’ and especially the character Pauline who had a dress made
for her for an audition. I moved on to another stall where clothes hung.
Thick shirts of the late fifties and sixties, also cotton dresses – I
mean cotton. Then rummaging round the rack: pinafores, dresses and much
more.
Wandering on to another stall I found books, a rather old one, so old
that the top of the book came apart. There was writing in it, also a
small piece of paper. I put it down as I’d seen books on weather
forecasting and clouds, plus many others.
On one stall was a small, old Red Indian doll and the stallholder said I
could have it for £2. I bought it and the woman would have liked me to
buy more dolls as I told her I collected them. (Oops, shouldn’t have
said that.) I told her: ‘No, just the one, thank you.’ The dolls she
showed me were not my type, so, holding firm to what I’d bought, I
wondered round again.
I came upon a man who was selling a black and white tea service from the
sixties. The one with little chairs plus other things but I wasn’t sure
of the maker. Going to another stall a man was selling ivory pieces. He
had a broach of flowers. Sadly not the earrings I used to wear carved
with the same flowers. They were bought for my twenty first birthday,
many moons ago.
I passed a stall which had a green hairdressing set. I said: ‘That’s the
same as mother had when she got married.’ I told the stallholder about
my Gran taking my Grandpa to see the house just after their daughter got
married. Grandpa told her: ‘Oh dear, it’s all green. Green carpets, easy
chairs and curtains’. I think that was because mother was auburn,
although she would sometimes put in browns too.
After a good look round, for the third time, hanging up was a lovely
baby dress. It was either late thirties or early forties and would have
fitted my baby doll, called a hospital doll. Which is a doll for
teaching young mothers how to wash, dress, etc.
Well time to move on. So leaving the Market Hall I went into the town
and had a sandwich plus jelly and tea. A lovely day out!