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St Therese of Lisieux and Hull Fair
Blogged by James Preece on 15th October 2009
We went to Hull Fair this evening. Hull Fair is something of an institution in these parts, it comes every year and is one of the largest travelling fairs in Europe. It is not like a theme park at all and really has to be experienced to be understood. As a child I lived near enough to smell the fair from my house, all candy floss and hot dog stands. For me, it's like being twelve again and memories come flooding back of wandering around the fair with no money, simply to enjoy the spectacle.
Having been to the fair this evening, now seems as good a time as any to tell you about the short talk I gave to the youth group last week on the subject of Hull Fair. It was a smal group and therefore quite an interactive talk, I asked them what their favourite thing about Hull Fair is an they all said something called "The Bomber".
It was one of those moments when you realise you've become a grown up. I remember being of an age when conversations were had on the school bus about various rides and which was the best. There was a time when I would have known what "The Bomber" was but I had to ask. Apparently it lifts you up and goes around and then swoops you down. I know now... because we've just been to the fair and I've seen it.
Anyway... the point is that everybody talks about the big rides at Hull fair but there are smaller things as well. Can anybody think of any? "Helter Skelter", "Hook a Duck"... nope, those things are still quite big. Think smaller. Eventually somebody got it.. "Toffee Apples". Then they all got it: "Candy Floss", "Brandy Snap", "Cinder Toffee" etc...
"..and Pomegranates"... Pomegranates? Yeah.. You can buy pomegranates at Hull Fair. I don't understand it either, but there you are...
Getting back to my point, I pointed out that when you talk about Hull Fair many people (especially younger ones) think of the big rides and attractions, but there are smaller things at Hull Fair which are important too. I asked them to try to imagine Hull Fair without any toffee apples, jumbo hot dogs and candy floss. They all agreed that such a thing was unspeakable. They all agreed that the little things are essential to making Hull Fair great.
Then I asked them to consider the Church, which we often think of as consisting of Priests and Bishops, Great Saints, Cathedrals and Bascilicas. Even our small parish church is quite a big thing if you compare it to, say, a twelve year old. Yet the little things in the Church which, I told them, includes me as well as them, are very important. So important that the Church without them would be like Hull Fair without cinder toffee.
So all of us, however small we might be, have an important part to play.
Which leads us quite nicely on to St Therese, the little flower...
St Therese, the toffee apple.
Reader Comments
Mark Dobson said...
Nice.
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Agellius said...
Hull Fair sounds like a wonderful old institution, trying to maintain its identity by preserving its own traditions.
I grew up in the Los Angeles area, and when I was a kid was able occasionally to attend baseball games at Dodger Stadium (the Dodgers are the local professional baseball team). At that time (the early 70s) Dodger Stadium was a unique place among professional baseball stadiums. The team was family owned and was determined to maintain the traditional ambience of a baseball park. The only music was provided by a live organist -- no recorded music. The ushers and cashiers all wore old-fashioned uniforms including straw hats and vests, and had to obey a strict dress and grooming code. Most amazing of all was that there were no advertisements in the playing area of the field -- the only advertisements in the whole stadium were two small (relatively) circular signs above the scoreboard.
Even at that young age I knew that it was the preserved traditions of the place that made going there such a wonderful experience -- as well as resisting the temptation to make money by commercializing every square inch of the place. I could see from TV broadcasts that other stadiums throughout the country were not the same.
Eventually the family sold the Dodgers to a corporation, and the very next seaason advertisements were plastered all over the walls of the playing field, and blaring rock-and-roll music piped in over the loudspeakers. Dodger Stadium was now "up to date". Yay.
All this talk of preserving traditions reminds me of something . . .
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