There is a colourful helter skelter at the end of Bournemouth Pier. At the Festival of Britain Battersea Park Festival Pleasure Gardens fairground in about 1955, I experienced my first ride. 

The dark internal stairs had a mechanical, impersonal, slightly rusty air. They made a hollow rickety sound.

As I came into daylight at the high platform, the sudden panorama elevated me with delight and surprise.

I must have yelled like everyone on my solo slide on a rectangle of tatty coconut matting, but it was too fast to comprehend. 

The child is father of the man

My busy Dad was seldom home. This fairground treat sat etched on a shelf in my mind through five decades of longing for another go on a helter skelter.

And in 2009, we came to settle in Bournemouth. Soon afterwards, I took my little self on a special magical journey up old stairs to dust off old anticipation and go slide! 

“My Heart Leaps Up”

~ Love is present EveryNow