John Carter's Jubilee Steam Gallopers - A Souvenir of One Hundred Years of Riding for Pleasure
by Paul Braithwaite with John Carter.
This little booklet was published in 1995 to commemorate the centenary of the Gallopers travelled by John Carter since 1976. It is an unusual set in that it has never spent any length of time in storage and has opened almost every season in the past 100 years, something about which few similar rides can boast. John Carter asked Paul Braithwaite to research the history of the ride to sort fact from legend and, between them, they have produced a detailed but concise history of the ride which reflects the story of the English fair. They both stress that the success of the ride has been due largely to the fact that it has always been run as part of a family concern. A nice touch, along with the photographs of past owners, is the inclusion of 2 photos of the Carter family; one being John Carter with his daughters and the other Anna Carter with her sons.
The book is divided into six chapters (unfortunately no contents page), beginning with an interesting chapter on the makers of the ride and their contemporaries, which makes a useful comparison of the different kinds of gallopers construction. For the uninitiated, like me, who only have a vague awareness of how a ride is constructed and what the parts are called, this section was helpful to understanding the descriptions of changes and repairs made during the following chapters. Chapters 2 and 3 are concerned with the seven previous owners and changes to the ride prior to its purchase by John Carter. The fourth chapter follows the same order as the third, in describing repairs to parts. Chapter 5 covers the transport of the ride throughout its past and interesting photographs are included of some of the vehicles concerned. Chapter 6 is a profile of all the rides included in Carter's Royal Berkshire Steam Fair, a subtle piece of advertising, which certainly makes me want to use the location information telephone number printed in the advertisement on the back cover, as soon as Eleanor is big enough to ride the juveniles!
The gallopers has not always included an organ as part of its 'pleasure' value, but this goes along with the fashion of the age; many other rides have lacked an organ at some time or other in their past. In its time, it has possibly carried an Imhof & Mukle paper roll organ and an early Gavioli, with definite records of an 87-key Marenghi and a 61-key Verbeeck before long years of record players and loud speakers. When first in John Carter's possession, and for only one season, it had a 52-keyless Ruth organ which is now owned, and has been restored by, a committee member of the FOPS. Now it carries a 46-key Gavioli which, reflecting the whole ethos of John Carter's fair, has been restored and brightly decorated.
Throughout the text, consecutive numbers are printed in the margins; these refer to notes, printed at the back of the booklet, describing the different sources of information used. The book is interspersed with many photographs, both black & white and colour, all labelled starting with the owner's name at the time of the photograph, a useful idea. One small gripe: the book is perfect bound which means that the spine did not stand up to the book being spread out and read in detail. In time, pages may fall out but it was probably done this way to keep the production costs down. It is a book worthy of being more than a 'souvenir' as it is obviously well researched, readable and well laid out, so it is a shame to be let down by a less durable spine.
May the ride survive another hundred years on the English Fairground circuit!
© 1996 Anna Page
Originally published in edition 4 of The Key Frame 1996.