STEVE Linsley remembers the Malton Hirings fair of 1933 as if it were yesterday.

He was interested to read in the Gazette & Herald (Nov 8) how showmen in that year braved the fear of typhoid fever to come to town. An epidemic in the days before antibiotics kept most people away.

Now aged 80 and living in Norton, Steve particularly remembers the fair that year for that is when he was nine and won 13 boxes of chocolates.

The fair used to be in Market Place.

He said: "The stalls for rolling pennies and the coconut shy was by Mennells and the Conservative Club. The noisy attractions were up at the top market. Linton Mill used to be a barber's and just below the stationery shop was the boxing ring."

The professional boxers used to challenge the lads of the town to last a round or two.

"No one ever used to beat them," said Steve.

The fairground people not only staged the fair and brought people back to Malton in 1933, they had a whip-round, raising well over £100 for the town.

"What a lot of people don't realise is that they used to give a lot of money to Malton Hospital."

Steve remembers how the show people used to park up their caravans where the fair itself is now held, in Wentworth Street car park.

He added: "Showmen were the cleverest of men. They had to understand steam, electrics, transport, bearings and heat."

Sadly, those days when the fair was the high spot of the year soon gave way to war.

Steve volunteered as an aircraft engineer. His act of patriotism took him through many adventures and heroic deeds in the far East which included being stranded on an uninhabited island.

One of his fond thoughts of home was the sugary biscuits decorated with pictures of scenes such as men on motorbikes.

"All the time, all I could think about was I was in Woolworths in Malton with those biscuits."

When he came home, life seemed somehow quieter. The biscuits had gone and the fair never seemed so exciting again.

Updated: 08:45 Thursday, November 22, 2001