KELLY BROWN: School fairs have got a lot bigger than the ones we had in my day!

“Come with us to the school fair,” my sister-in-law urged me at the weekend.

Little did I know what I was letting myself in for.

Now it has been a while since I’ve actually been to a school fair/fayre/fete (whatever you want to call them) and I was completely stunned by what was on offer.

Without making myself sound ancient, in my day a school fair consisted of a few cake and bric-a-brac stalls and games in each classroom or out in the playground.

Guess how many sweets in the jar, tombola, splat the rat, a raffle – all that kind of jazz. It wouldn’t take very long to make your way around, and you would leave with a few prizes.

But oh no, how things have changed.

As well as the huge numbers of games on offer in every classroom of my niece’s school, there was also an outdoor spectacular to enjoy as well.

I’m talking donkey rides, a dog agility show, two bouncy castles, a mini railway ride and even a falconry display.

And there was a big barbecue going (complete with a big queue) and even a mini beer tent selling ales and Pimm’s.

When did school fairs get this big? Are they all like this or is my niece’s school an exception?

Maybe I’m just completely out of the loop, and when my own little ones start school I will be totally blasé about the whole thing.

Maybe those childhood memories of manning a stall of homemade woollen creations at the fair will be completely overshadowed with this new modern day-style fair where everything is ten times bigger.

My little man found it all a bit overwhelming at first, and was tightly clinging on to my hand while the older children rushed around from stall to stall with their bags of goodies.

But I managed to find a quiet ‘decorate a biscuit’ stall to ease him in gently. Ten minutes later he was running around with his cousin, complete with armfuls of prizes.

An inspiration

CHICHESTER-born Tim Peake is to go into space and he wants to inspire a generation.

Well, judging by my little man’s enthusiasm for all things ‘space’ he has a head-start.

My son spends ages running around pretending to be in a space rocket, and is learning the names of the planets in our solar system.

Who knows, maybe I have a budding astronaut in the making too.

Twitter: @KellyBrownMTW