And Now: Fete a Fete

Two fun events in Newcastle offer a surprising visual contrast. Young vicars are game for a go on Bagatelle and bar billiards at a Benwell church garden party. A second film captures the dizzying spectacle of a night time Town Moor Hoppings, with neon lights, exotic dancers and thrilling rides such as the Paratrip, Looper, Dive Bomber and space age Meteorite. A Victorian favourite, the gyrating Cakewalk causes much hilarity amongst fair goers.

These amateur films were shot by Ken Christie, a Tyneside engineer who experimented with new Kodak artificial light rated film to shoot the Hoppings footage and had a lot of fun mimicking the wild motion of rides in his camerawork. Billed as Europe’s biggest, the Hoppings fair dates back to 1882 when the North of England Temperance Festival was introduced as an alcohol-free counter-attraction to the Race Week at Gosforth Park. The original model for the Cakewalk ride was built by the Plinston Brothers in Warrington in 1905-06. It was inspired by a dance performed by black American slaves, which mocked the mannerisms of white southern high society in ballrooms, and was later popularised in minstrel shows.