In Reply to: Cycling on the Mall posted by Royal on October 18, 2009 at 15:40:43:

That reminds me, we were sometimes chased off the Mall for playing football in the early to mid-sixties!
A well-known foreman with the county council at the time even confiscated our ball on occasion.
There was also a lot of heated debate in town around that time about staging a carnival (Tofts?) on the Mall.
Some people objected strongly to the notion - believing that the heavy vehicles and large crowds would damage the subsurface drainage and lead to flooding.
In any event, I recall that at least one carnival was held there in the early to mid-sixties.
I remember that the surface did indeed appear to be quite 'soft ' for a good while afterwards.