The adventures of car boot Kev at York Racecourse

“Car Boot Kev!” shouted one of the children, and immediately all the children at the car boot sale within earshot turned around with excited faces.

“Car Boot Kev! Tell us a story!” they all began to shout as one by one they ran over to see their favourite storyteller. “What have you bought today? Show us, show us!” they cried, whilst trying to peer into his bag to see what he had in there.

“Today, kids, I have something wonderful!” he said, excitedly. Kneeling down, he reached into his bag, and all of the children watched with sparkling eyes as they waited to see what he had bought. They knew they had a great story to hear today, because Car Boot Kev had a big smile on his face, and they sat down and waited eagerly.

Out of his bag, Car Boot Kev slowly began to draw a hat. This was not just any old hat though, but a pretend Roman soldier’s helmet with a bright red fur mane running from front to back. Skiprat, Car Boot Kev’s little brown and white terrier sniffed at it inquisitively and started to pull at the fur. “Hey, that’s not for you little fella,” he laughed, picking Skiprat up and moving him to one side. “Now,” he beamed at the children, “this isn’t just part of a costume!”

“Is it magic?!” gasped a little girl with blonde hair.

“Of course it’s magic! Tell us Car Boot Kev, where are we going this week?” said one of the boys excitedly.

“Ah, you’ll find out! Now shuffle round, kids!” The children did as Car Boot Kev said and all gathered around him. “Now, all put your hands out, close your eyes & touch this Roman helmet and we’ll see where we go.” Eagerly, all of the children reached out and shut their eyes.

When the youngsters opened their eyes again, they were surprised to see Car Boot Kev standing in front of them wearing a tunic, the familiar white rose that he always wore on his lapel now carefully pinned to his chest. Looking down, the children realised that they were wearing tunics too.

“Wow! Look at my feet!” shouted one of the youngsters and pointed at his leather shoes. “Where did they come from?”

“Can anyone guess what time we’ve gone back to?” asked Car Boot Kev.

“The helmet was Roman! We’re in Roman times!”

“That’s right,” chuckled Car Boot Kev, “and we’re visiting so that I can show you some interesting history about York, and the racecourse.”

“Look!” yelled one of the smaller children, pointing at a trio of horses racing neck and neck around the track. “Horses! I love horses!”

“That’s right. We’ve gone back over two thousand years in time, when horse racing first started in this area!”

The children looked shocked. “Two thousand years?” they exclaimed. “Were there dinosaurs?”

Car Boot Kev laughed. “No, dinosaurs were a long time before the Romans! But every time you come and see me at the car boot sale at the racecourse, isn’t it interesting to know how long horse racing has been going on here?”

“Yes, yes it is!” the children all said excitedly.

“I can’t wait to tell my mummy and daddy!” shouted one.

“I’m sure they’ll be very interested, too,” said Car Boot Kev, “but you can’t tell them that we came back in time! That’s our secret,” he winked.

Before the children knew it, they found themselves back at the car boot sale and Car Boot Kev stood and chuckled to himself as he watched them run off to tell everybody they could find about the long history of horseracing in York.