The Harry Lee Story
edited by Kevin Scrivens and Stephen Smith; Fairground Society publication (Burnley, 1996); 94 pages; 138 photographs; price £11.95 (plus £1 p&p - UK). Available from the FOPS sales stand or FOPS Sales, 61 South Parade, Ossett, West Yorkshire, WF5 0EF (all cheques/POs should be made payable to 'FOPS'). ISBN 0950110310.
Think of steam yachts and Harry Lee's name comes to mind by association. Here, at last, we have his memoirs transcribed from tape. This account is really the story of two showmen dynasties: the Waddingtons of Bradford and the Waddingtons of Leeds who were close friends but were not related. Harry Lee was born in Bradford in 1913, his father was then the manager and engine-driver on steam yachts owned by his brother-in-law JW Waddington Snr of Leeds: the very same ride that his son would one day own. Harry served his apprenticeship on a set of yachts owned by JW Waddington Jnr and later worked on Tom Jervis' yachts. After the second world war, he got back onto steam yachts: this time the set his father had known before the Great War now owned by Herbert Waddington of the Waddingtons of Bradford. Confused? You won't be after you've read the book! Harry then devoted the rest of his working life to keeping this fine old steam ride on Guild fairs and ensuring its survival into the era of preservation steam fairs and rallies.
Not only did Harry Lee remain loyal to steam but he remained loyal to the fairground organ. I recall him telling me there was a time when he was the only showman in Yorkshire travelling a fairground organ, while the Silcocks were the only showmen travelling fairground organs in Lancashire. The book is a little thin on details regarding the Chiappa organ on his yachts although it does state it is of Marenghi origin. In his World's Fair tribute to Victor Chiappa, Harry recalled that when he took over the ride in the winter of 1948 he went down to London and agreed to buy the organ on the spot. The bandmaster and glockenspiel were added in about 1960-1. Members of the FOPS are pictured on p74 presenting Harry Lee with his FOPS plaque at Dewsbury Feast in 1961. (The ride's previous organ was a Limonaire barrel organ now owned by Geoff Weedon and Richard Ward which I last saw at the Rutland Cottage Museum.)
Harry's recollections begin with the Yorkshire Feasts of his childhood, a lost world of happiness and hard times, and includes many fascinating incites into the showman's way of life. Anyone despairing of the violence of modern society should read his account of the pitched battles fought between showmen and gangs in Sheffield in the 1920s. I'm sure we'd all like to congratulate our Vice-President on the publication of his life story. Messrs Scrivens and Smith have seen to the printers yet another excellent fairground book: their introduction concerning the two Waddington families and Yorkshire Feasts has something new for us all, I suspect. I only wish they'd included a genealogical chart.
© Jory Bennett 1997
Originally published in edition 1 of The Key Frame 1997.