1982 Season....

During the winter of 1981/82 Colin De-Vey married and this lead to changes on the transport front. The Scammell showtrac was retired and Colin obtained a 6 wheel ERF tractor unit from John Allen. The ark and waltzer sets were put on to the back of the lorry facing out the back and a 3rd spare set was slung across the lorry behind the cab. The diesel tank was also on the lorry. It was an impressive site and was used as the prime mover to tow Colin and his mothers wagons. The load was probably one of the longest on the road at that time and as it exceeded the maximum train length was likely to remain so. This load produced some interesting times over the following seasons with tight gates and sharp bends proving to be difficult to negotiate.

Topsham Brian did not come out travelling that year having taken a job in a shop in Bristol. Kuzz took over the role of driving the waltzer.

During our second stay at Exeter in June, JR was given the push after being drunk whilst we were open and disappearing off to the pub with all the riders change! At Taunton that year Kuzz and his long term girl friend had a big bust up and he left. That just left me on the ride taking money and Madeline De-Vey in the paybox. Thankfully Kuzz reappeared ready for pull down and the busy regattas.

We visited Bicton that year for the horse trials. Business was poor and we started pulling down the ride whilst still open. We were taking ceilings off while the ride was riding. Then we drove down on Sunday evening to Newton Abbot “Cheese and Onion” fair.

I think that this was the first season we took the waltzer to Bridgewater and it stood on the first machine position in the main entrance where Ravenscrofts “pop express” had used to be. Whilst at Babbacome that year we mage a complete set of back steps to fit the ride. At Bridgewater the first line of machines face the side stuff and consequently have their backs to the main walkway. It was good to have the waltzer there as we usually had to work on the Ark at Bridgewater. The ark always did very well at Bridgewater and was a nightmare for taking money. It is probably still the only ride where the punter can move freely about the ride, so you were continually checking to see if they had paid someone else.