Kay’s along for the ride with new book

Kay, from Weymouth, has just released Dodgems – Where Did They Come From and Who Made Them?

The book was published in Dorchester and came about after a friend suggested Kay should do a book on dodgems.

Kay’s grandfather Richard Townsend had been travelling his ‘Ark’ ride around the West Country since 1934 and, before that, would travel around with a steam gallopers set.

Kay said: “It was about three years ago while I was visiting friends in Cornwall.

“I said ‘No I don’t have time’, however, while driving back along the A30, I thought, I wonder if I could do this?

“I did just a few lines that evening, then did not do anymore for some weeks, thinking it was going to be a boring subject and I would probably end-up putting it down. “I ended up contacting five countries to gather information about the most popular ride ever made.”

Kay’s granddad used a 60ft by 40ft aluminium dodgem track in Sherborne for a week but it came with no tilt and on the first night of opening it rained.

Kay writes: “The track became wet, which badly affected the electrical contact of the car wheels.

“My father was in the paybox and my uncles, Tom and Pat, had to physically push the cars around the track.

“Being slowly pushed around could not have been much fun for the riders.”

The family borrowed a tilt, Kay wrote, until a new one was made.

The book recalls that dodgems were built on Weymouth Beach in 1953 as part of the Queen’s Coronation celebrations.

Kay wrote: “This was not one of the family’s better ideas, as not only were the rides not busy but sand got into the car motors.”

It was decided that the family wouldn’t take dodgems on to Weymouth’s golden sands as a few motors at a time had to be sent away for the sand to be cleaned out, which meant a loss of takings as the ride was open every week at other carnivals.

Kay goes on to document how the River Jordan at Weymouth burst its banks in July 1955 and it flooded the fair.

The dodgems, then at Bowleaze Cove, had their floor plate lifted with the force of the water.

“The small wooden bridge over the stream, which people would cross in order to get to the fair, was also washed away, so the Army came and built a temporary ‘Bailey Bridge’.

“The mud was so bad after the flooding that they could not open the fair for a few days until it was all cleared away.”

To research the book, Kay ended up contacting five countries to gather information about dodgems.

She said: “When I do my talks on the history of the dodgems, I always start with a question, is there anyone here who has never had a ride on the dodgems? I am still waiting for a hand to go up.

“A friend put me in contact with the United States Patent office, who gave me permission to us sketches and design information up to 1975, which was ideal, as I did not need to go beyond this year.”

Kay says dodgems took off rapidly across the world and Italy, France, Germany, Spain and the UK all started to enter dodgem manufacturing.

In the book, Kay tells how the cars were made in detail, from preparing the fiberglass for the mould, getting the rubber bumper on, delivering the very first dodgem ride to Russia, and their reaction to the ride.

Then came dodgem water boats and the fun of attending the trade shows.

The back cover photo was taken at Portland fair and front cover and some inside sketches are by a local artist, Neil Mansell.

The book is a trip down memory lane into the fairground and tells of love and sadness on the dodgems.

l YOU can buy the book from Cards and Celebrations on Portland, Books a Float in Weymouth, Top Drawer Card shop in Dorchester or from Kay on 01305 778693.