Carnival
Competitions of the 1950s
Whitstable Carnivals of the 1950s were always
eagerly awaited. In fact, they created a real buzz around town for
an entire week. The atmosphere was generated in part by
official competitions - organised by the Whitstable Chamber
of Commerce and detailed in the carnival programme. The most
popular was the 'Spot the Odd Object' contest.
Let's take a look....
The Odd Object Contest...
Fortunately, I don't have to rely on my own
recollection of the rules.... as Ian Johnson has
kindly provided a scan of the instructions from the
programme of 1959!...
The full page looked like this and it contained a list of participating shops...
And what a piece of Whitstable history it is.... because, fifty
years ago, Ian took part in the contest and noted his deductions alongside
the list of shops . Let's
enlarge things a bit....
I am sure that this information will cause a bit of a stir amongst some of our
readers - if their relatives owned or worked in these
establishments. For example, Terry Phillips may now discover where
his Rowntree Fruit Gums disappeared to back in August '59. People
related to the Collar family will realise that their relatives retained
some of their earlier maritime connections by placing fish tonic in
their ironmongers window.
I could write for hours on the subject but I'll try to reduce my comments to a quick check list....
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Just look at the spread of shops -
from the Sea View Cafe at Priest & Sow Corner to
Oxford Street. It even covered some side streets -
allowing an entry from Ian's uncle's shop in Cromwell
Road.
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Notice the different colour
annotations... perhaps indicating that Ian's efforts
extended over several days!
-
Notice the co-operation of
shopkeepers. Griffey's (a wallpaper shop) featured a
black rug.... whilst a nearby furniture/carpet shop
(Ryes) included a.... wait for it.... roll of
wallpaper! That's what I call efficiency and business
acumen!
-
How times have changed. Can you
imagine a major High Street chemists like Boots
agreeing to feature a packet of cigarettes in the year
2006? I wonder if they got them from Ian's uncle in
exchange for Boots Insect Powder?
-
Some shops had several windows.
This included the town's biggest ever toy shop...
Leonards. The emporium comprised two or three shops
knocked into one and it even had an upstairs section!
-
Some items were more difficult to spot
than others.... which makes me wonder what form dear
old Mr Sirkett's "liquorice" contribution
took down in Harbour Street. Just think.... bootlace
liquorice in a shoe repairers. We could have been
searching for hours!
-
Some of the objects would be
"odd" in ANY shop today. Such is the case
with Arthur Collar's (builders merchants) use of that "Fish
Tonic". For our younger readers, I should
point out that Collars occupied the premises currently
owned by Boots the Chemist. It became Cakebread,
Robey, Collar before it disappeared. But, don't
ask about fish tonic, kids. I haven't a clue. I didn't
even know that fish were "under the
weather".
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There was nothing more frustrating than joining a
collection of contestants at a shop window.... and then seeing one
of them laugh, scribble and run off. It was even worse when a
particular smart alec looked back and announced that it was 'easy-peasy-japanesey'.
That's when you felt like inserting a biro in them. It's a sobering thought that
many of those contestants are now retired and only a couple of the
listed shops remain
today. I wonder if they ever extracted my biro.
Winners of the competition received the princely
sums of £5, £3 or £1. All were substantial amounts in 1959....
and all fitted Harold Macmillan's statement in 1957 that we
had "never had it so good". Yes, it really
was that long ago!
What a great way to amuse youngsters, get people
visiting the town centre and encourage them to look in shop windows rather than
drive out of town to Tesco. Shhhh someone might just get an idea!
Lucky Number Event
Ian's memorabilia has also unearthed another less well remembered
carnival contest from the programme of 1956 (see below). At that time,
Macmillan's Utopia was still awaiting a script writer and the prize
was a mere 7/6d (37½p). Furthermore, it had to be collected in
kind.....
I wonder what you could collect from Rye's
furniture shop for 7/6d. In those days, probably a complete three
piece suite!
Just look how terminology has changed over the
years. In '56, local businessmen were bestowed with the title
"Messrs". Mind you, I reckon that someone was a
tad over enthusiastic with the dittos. "Messrs"
refers to several people.... and that should have excluded Mr.
Gordon Phillips (the chemist) in Tankerton Road! I am also a
little doubtful that "Limited Companies" can qualify as
"Messrs" as they have their own corporate
identity.
In common with "Spot the Odd Object",
the competition required contestants to visit the town centre and
look in shop windows.
On behalf of all our readers, I would like to thank Ian for taking the time
to produce these snippets and bringing back a whole host of memories.
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