In the 1950s it reported that at the annual Swalwell Hopping were " fairground rides such as the waltzer and carousel merry-go-round with traditional animal mounts, barley twist poles and fairy lights, a coconut shy, hoop-la stalls, a rifle range and other stalls where you could win various prizes, including a goldfish if you could throw a table tennis ball into one of many goldfish bowls.
22.
The song celebrates the coconut shy ( coconut toss ) at funfairs, and the catchy chorus is the call of the showman " standing underneath the flare " ( of gaslight ), inviting the public to " Roll up, bowl a ball, a penny a pitch . " The ball is tossed or bowled ( as in cricket ) or pitched at the coconuts, with the object of knocking one off its stand.
23.
Juan, Mama and Pedro go to the fair ( but do not know if they have the right money for the coconut shy, roundabout or candy floss ), while Bill is running a cake stall but Bernie cannot decide whether she wants one or not so flips four coins ( 1p, 2p, 5p and 10p ) into the air but they do not come down again, and a cricket player wants to buy some glue from Screensaver to stick his old broken bat back together.
