PROLIFIC fairground author Kay Townsend has returned to the printed page, this time with the history of a fairground family from Dorchester.

Kay wrote The Herberts of Dorchester and their Steam following the death of patriarch David George Herbert in 2011 and the book charts the family from the 1800s until lorries superseded steam traction engines in 1947.

The story opens with John William Herbert, a respectable horse dealer who worked between Ireland and the West Country.

His son Jack followed him into the livestock market trade with a Joy Wheel – an early form of the roundabout where riders had to cling on until they fell off.

Ah, those heady pre-health and safety days.

Jack’s first marriage was to showman’s daughter Sally Newman. They had five children and continued working the fairs with the Joy Wheel to which they added a shooting gallery, snake show, roll-the-penny and hoopla.

After Sally’s death at the age of 34, Jack married Mildred Moore, 22 years his junior, after a three-month courtship. They went on to have 11 children including David George and, as Kay notes in the book, ‘mealtimes were usually a sitting of three children at a time’.

Kay said: “When I wrote my first book in 2006 people would joke about me doing a book about the Herberts and I would say: ‘No way’, because it would take too long. But now it’s exactly what I have done.

“I have known the Herbert family for donkey’s years and the families have known each other for decades. I used to play with David’s children and in his later years he would tell me stories about the past and I would record them. I loved hearing the old stories and after he died I decided to empty the tape I had recorded on because it was deteriorating in quality and I wrote his memories down for safekeeping.

“At first I wasn’t planning a book, but David’s brothers Lewis and Eddie are still alive so I decided it was time to finish off the story.”

Kay’s book is rich with historical details and family history.

Bella the horse plays a large role – her mother was a performing pony and whenever the fairground organ music started up, Bella would dance around as if she was in the circus ring.

The fairs were popular, drawing people from far and wide.

They stopped for a few years during the first half of the Second World War but restarted when the government introduced Holidays at Home Fairs to boost national morale.

But as the book shows, not everything in the fairground garden was rosy. Running a fair and driving the engines could be physically dangerous, as the episode with the runaway engine Majestic showed.

In the spring of 1933, a new worker was taken on to help with the engines. It is thought that he misjudged the road they were driving – from Verwood to Wimborne – and toppled her into a ditch that was full of water, trapping the driver. He was later rescued by the fire brigade and Majestic was finally saved with help from the owner of a local garage. However, the road remained closed for three weeks.

The Herberts of Dorchester and their Steam is a fascinating look into a lost tradition and a wonderful addition to Kay’s collection of books.

The Herberts of Dorchester and their Steam costs £8.50 and is available from Cards and Celebrations in Easton on Portland, Books Afloat in Weymouth, Charlestown post office in Chickerell and from Dorchester TIC and Top Drawer in South Street, Dorchester.