Happy Birthday Carousel
This isn't our carousel! - we'll put a picture of ours here soon
As many of you are aware, Dartford Lions owns a juvenile fairground ride which appears at many school fetes in the Dartford area during the spring and summer. We also try to attend at least one day at Dartford Festival in Central Park in July.
The ride was built by a local man, a Mr Christmas of Swanley , and he and his wife were to be seen entertaining local children over many years. After Mr Christmas died, some thirty five years ago, Dartford Lions purchased the ride from his widow and have since attended numerous school and village fetes in the Dartford area.
The ride was originally built to be operated by a hand-cranking system which must have been a real chore for the operator. It was later converted to be run off a portable generator. We have maintained the ride for the past thirty five years and it was last given a full overhaul in the 1980's by the late Lion Robert Bailey of local funfair fame.
Each year, prior to us operating the ride, we have it tested by an authorised engineer and all the recent testers have agreed that it was almost certainly built in or around 1935. We have therefore decided that 2011 is the 75th anniversary of our carousel and that it is in need to a thorough overhaul to celebrate.
Dartford Lions would be pleased to meet anyone with a few spare hours a year to join us in our work, making a difference to the needy of our community.
