One of my earliest memories was when my Dad told me old tales about the Sydney Royal Easter Show, and years gone by.
“When I was a boy, and before they used to call them showbags, they were called ‘sample bags’, and they gave them out for free” He used to tell me.
The photo on the left brings back a world of memories. The year was 1991, and Ettalong Primary school organised an excursion to Moore Park and the Easter show. And what a day it was! I was scared to death of the poultry pavilion, the hottest showbags were ‘Fido Dido’ and ‘Ninja Turtles’, and it was an excitement overload to sit inside a REAL police car with my two classmates (pictured).
Speaking of three boys allocated to one teacher, as we strolled through the crowd, a huge raffle was about to go off. A man at the massive spinning wheel sold a ticket to my teacher.
“Which number would you like on the spinning wheel, ‘mam?”
“Well, I have three boys with me, so number three please” she responded.
The spinning wheel landed on 3, and won my teacher a holiday to Fiji. Not bad, huh? Mrs. Godbold told us that under her watchful eye, we were her lucky charm.
Well, that was years ago. since then, I witnessed the last Easter Show at Moore park (1997) , the general public’s concern that the Show wouldn’t have as much atmosphere at the brand new Olympic Park, and, this year for me, the opportunity to broadcast live radio from the grounds as part of the Australian Film, Television and Radio school. Kind of like a school excursion, I guess. And under the watchful eye of my teachers, of course.
This year, and almost thirty years later, as I sat inside a REAL police car, I wondered what my Dad, or my teacher would say if they could see me now.
Peace, Jayce.
