DAVID Dean was born in Main Street, Grassington, in the front room of his father's butcher's shop before moving further up to number 23, living there for the next 12 years. He had a ring-side seat for the antics at Grassington Fair when it arrived in the autumn.

As a youngster in the late 1950s and early 60s, David yearned for the arrival of the second week in October. It signalled a feast of fun.

He recalls: "The fair usually arrived on a Monday morning after travelling from Settle on its tour round the villages. The teachers knew there would be no work done until we had run to the school gate to see them go by.

"Our ears were tuned to the hum of the Foden wagons engines’ noise and the converted double decker buses that had been adapted to carry the stalls and slot machines.

"Somewhere in there were the goldfish to be carried home in a plastic bag after successfully hooking a duck or bouncing a table tennis ball into an empty gold fish bowl.

"The Square had to be cleared of only a handful of cars - this was the late 50s and early 60s. The next big task was to manoeuvre the living-vans round the back of what is now the museum, on to Hardy Grange. These were big caravans. They had four wheels, belly boxes, end bay windows and Molly Croft roofs.

"All the living-vans were pushed and pulled and manhandled until they were all in a row down the left and right sides of Hardy Grange.

"The main family were the Scotts with super dodgems and penny arcades. There were other families with shooting gallery, darts, coconut shy and the striker, swing boats, gold fish, candy floss, hot dogs and many round stalls.

"They were all hard-working families and over the years we got to know them. The children came to our school and we went to each other’s homes or vans for tea. There was also a feast jumble and feast sports on the middle Saturday so we could win some money to spend on the fair.

"The pump in the Square disappeared under the dodgem track as it took up most of the top half of the square which was levelled with blocks of wood. By the time the track floor spanned the square and was raised above the remaining two stone troughs, it was four feet high when it reached Main Street.

"Back in the 1950s and 60s, the pubs had the pop and bottles of beer delivered in wooden crates and yes, these crates were what held the dodgems up at the street end!

"Just like a giant jigsaw the track, gates, steps, pay-box, netting, roof and canvas, speakers, lights, and last of all the dodgems were pushed on.

"We had plenty of stalls offering all kinds of games, two large tents with slot machines, push penny and a 'What the butler saw'. There were swing boats, candy floss and hot dogs, swing chairs and a shooting gallery.

"At the bottom end of the square outside the hardware shop - now a clothes shop - was the coconut shy, throwing darts at playing cards, a slot machines’ arcade and the big striker where the strong men of the village hit a round pin with a wooden mallet to try to send the metal striker up several feet to ring the bell.

"Why is it that hot dogs always taste different eaten on a cold October night with the smell and the noise of diesel engines and loud music filling the air?

"Many a night I have fallen asleep to Bill Haley and the Comets. After the rock-n roll came the old-time dancing. The ladies never wore white as the dodgem floor was black with grease.

"The police used to ask the fair-folk to close after midnight on a Saturday as Sunday morning approached and apart from the odd fight there was no bother.

"The fair families brought trade to the village and it was always sad to see them go. The last visit was 1977 with only a few stalls."

Being the son of a butcher, David joined his father’s business after leaving school at 15. Having been fortunate to live in the area all his life, his last place of work, before retirement, was at the electrical shop on Grassington Square.

He was one of the founder members of the Upper Wharfedale Museum in Grassington where he combined his love of photography with his interest in history. Since he retired he has taken up model building and his latest project is - appropriately enough - a set of dodgems.