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The annual Ticklecock Fair was an institution in Little Eaton - but was it ever held in Kilburn?

Benjamin "Eddie" Gregory, now 85, was just four years old when he first went to Ticklecock Fair.

Mr Gregory, of Darley Abbey, told Bygones: "I can remember it in the 1920s. We lived with my grandparents at Coxbench at the time.

"We used to see a steady stream of hundreds of people walking from Derby to Little Eaton for the fair. Trent Buses ran a regular bus service to take people there.

"It was held on a triangle of land against the New Inn at Little Eaton, at the junction of the main road to Ripley, where you turn off to Duffield.

"When the land was taken for building, the fair moved to Kilburn but it didn't last there very long.

"Halls, the fairground people were from Derby. They had a yard near the Duke of Clarence on Alfreton Road, where Harry Hall kept all their equipment - trailers and roundabouts and so on. They used to go to different fairs all over.

"Little Eaton fair was always on Good Friday. It would be gone again on Saturday. Just a couple of times, it stayed until Easter Monday. It was surprising how quickly they dismantled everything and were away.

"I used to love the roundabouts and the dodgems. I remember going to one fair, in 1938, with a friend of mine and it was snowing. Generally, it used to be sunny on Good Friday."

Mary Middleton, of Allestree, used to go to the fair in the 1930s and 40s.

She writes: "It was always held at Little Eaton near the New Inn pub.

"We used to walk there from Allestree, down Ford Lane, where many gipsy caravans were parked, and then we would take a short cut across the fields, provide they were not too flooded.

"I don't know whether it was ever called Shuttlecock Fair or when it finished but I do know that we all looked forward to it - eating candyfloss and spinning round on the rides.

"Afterwards, we had the long walk home. Oh, so long ago."

Mr D Smith, of Shelton Lock, is convinced the fair was never held at Kilburn.

He writes: "Ticklecock Fair has always been known by that name and I remember it being held at Little Eaton from 1948-56 or 57.

"It was at the rear of the New Inn public house on Duffield Road at the junction of Duffield Road, Alfreton Road and New Inn Lane.

"It was run mainly by Harry Hall Fairs, based near Mansfield Street, at Chester Green, Derby.

"I lived on Duffield Road from 1936 until I married in 1957. I used to help at the fair to get some pocket money and really enjoyed it."

A reader called HM, who used to go to the fair in the 1940s, agrees with both of the above. As does Pat Spencer, 85, of Kilburn.

Mr Spencer, who was born at Heage, said: "Ticklecock Fair was never held at Kilburn Toll Bar. Your reader is confusing it with Kilburn Wakes, which was only small.

"Ticklecock Fair was always held at Little Eaton and, when I was a boy, it was naughty to go there.

"It was held on a triangle of land near Kemp Wood and the boys used to take the girls up into the woods. When I was about 10, I went to the fair on my bike but I would have been told off if my mum had found out. It was notorious.

"Some houses have been built on the land where it was held now."

Frances Marsden, of Kilburn, also recalls the fair in the early 1940s.

"I used to walk there with my family across the field from Darley Abbey.

"It was much larger than the one at Kilburn. It was very popular in those days. We had some happy times there."

• Bracing Skegness was Derbyshire's home from home

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