“Who in their right mind gets up at 6am on a Sunday?”
This is my much-grumbled refrain as I do just that, sleepily pulling on jeans and my warmest, ugliest jacket to protect me from the unfamiliar elements of a Sunday morning – something I haven’t experienced in years.
And as the early spring sun begins raising its wan head, my flatmate Emily and I are already scraping the ice off my car, and setting off for the morning’s mission: to find some hidden gems at Errol Sunday Market.
Pulling into Errol Airfield, where the market is based, I’m not sure what to expect.
I have (ignorantly) imagined a haphazard little kingdom. A gaggle of a few dozen car-booters with fold-out tables, and perhaps a few gazebo tents for indoor market space.
Instead, we’re met with the sprawling, highly efficient metropolis of organised chaos which constitutes one of the biggest markets in Scotland, owned by well-known Perthshire businessman Morris Leslie.
Waved into a neat parking space by two parking attendants in blinding hi-vis, I quickly ascertain where ‘here’ is using the clearly-marked site map.
Then we set off down Market Street (there are streets!) where we watch traders opening up their containers – shipping container-type units filled with everything you could possible imagine, from antique furniture and military memorabilia to plush dog beds and sweets.
And when we make it to the office, flanked by a fairly modern toilet block (installed in 2019) and several food stalls, we’re met by market manager Fraser Rolley and assistant manager Andreja White, who has kindly offered to show us what’s what.
Markets run in the blood for Errol folk
She’s the prodigy of late market director Keith Payne, who passed away after a fight with cancer earlier this year.
He was handpicked by Mr Leslie to start and run the market 12 years ago – and he didn’t disappoint.
Now, the Errol Sunday Market runs 50 weeks a year, boasting more than 200 car booters each week in the height of summer.
“People queue for an indoor car boot space from 2.30am some mornings,” Andreja reveals. “It’s mad.”
And the 26-year-old Arbroath native is determined to keep up Keith’s legacy of success.
“I was brought on last year by Keith when he learned of his terminal diagnosis,” she explains. “But I grew up in the markets.
“My mum and dad had a stall here for vintage antiques called Antinik Vintage. The name was a combination of mine and my siblings’ names.”
Just like Andreja, butcher Walter Boak has the market “in my blood”.
Walter’s massive meat van takes up a corner of one of the huge market halls.
Based just outside of Edinburgh, he reveals he was up working at 3.15am to get ready for the market, putting my 6am whinging right in perspective.
“The market’s in my blood. I started when I was nine years of age as a Saturday boy for my next door neighbour,” says Walter, 54, who is known by traders and regular customers alike for his booming PA system which he uses to broadcast both deals and banter throughout the day.
“I love meeting people and having a bit of banter. I’ll have a joke and a carry on.”
Fiona finds ‘the best lookie-likies around’
For him, the sheer size of Errol market is both testament to and reason for its success over the years.
“This market surviving is probably because it’s the biggest one around. It’s a wee bit quiet this time of year, but come summer time you can’t get a space in the car park.”
Another mainstay of the market is “kiddie-on antique dealer” Fiona Munro, who runs Fiona’s Finds with partner Jamie Butchart.
A shipping container-style unit filled to the brim with buttons, bells and brilliant bric-a-brac (I spot the very same light-up globe that I’m sure I had as a child, as well as a Guinness-branded pub-style mirror), Fiona’s Finds thrives on those looking for an unexpected bargain.
“I don’t pretend anything is the genuine article, but I’ve got the best lookie-likies around,” says Fiona. “Ask me when something was made, I’ll say: ‘It’s old, that’s all I know!’
“But we’re a nation of spenders in a cost-of-living crisis. And when you’ve not got a lot to spend, it’s valuable that you can get something for 50p.”
Sisters raise money to honour Marie
For Canny Candies stallholders Carol Watson and Ivy Currie, the market is less about profit and more about community.
The Dundee-based sisters sell sweets and gifts to raise money for the cystic fibrosis (CF) unit at Ninewells Hospital, in honour of Carol’s late daughter Marie, who lost her life to the disease 13 years ago.
They estimate that over the years, they’ve raised between £3,000-4,000 for the unit.
“Marie was 22, and a lot of other CF parents don’t have their kids for that long,” says Carol. “We set this up after she passed to give us something to do – to keep us alive really.
“There’s a young lad with CF who comes round here and he’ll stand and chat for a good hour. And some of the nurses and their husbands come along too. The stall’s helped us find other families who have been through the same thing.”
The pair “love dressing up” according to Ivy, who is dressed head to toe as a Minion from Despicable Me, while Carol is sporting a dinosaur onesie.
“It cheers people up,” says Ivy. “I remember playing hopscotch here in the hall with our late director Keith, too. We love the craziness of the market. Every single day is different, you make new memories all the time.”
Young traders welcome at Errol Market
As well as long-time traders, Andreja explains that Errol Sunday Markets boasts a relatively high proportion of “young traders”, classed as traders under the age of 40.
“Only around 8% of traders across the UK are classed as young traders,” she explains. “We try to encourage younger people to set up their business here.”
One such young trader is Fair City Vintage founder Helen Fleming, a DJCAD graduate with a passion for 60s clothing, has just set up her indoor stall at Errol in December.
“When I found out about Errol, I thought it was a good place to start off,” says Helen, who sells her own handmade glassware and accessories along with vintage finds.
“I’ve only been coming since December – I used to work at weekends so it was quite difficult. It’s good, everybody’s really friendly and nice.”
After a couple of hours spent wandering about, we feel we’ve got the lay of the land.
Haggling is harder than it looks
So, armed with the £25 cash we brought (there are no ATMs on site, and although “more and more” traders have card machines, Andreja explains many prefer cash), Emily and I set off looking for some treasures.
And even though both Andreja and Fiona have warned me that haggling is expected, I fail at the first hurdle.
Spotting a gorgeous, heavy metal vintage hairbrush and mirror set fit for a Disney princess in one of the small indoor halls, I ask the proprietor how much, expecting it to burst my budget.
“That’s £12,” she replies. In my head, that’s a steal, so I pay up before remembering I was meant to barter. Oh well.
On further inspection, there’s something distinctly sinister and haunted about the pristine hairbrush, which only adds to the appeal.
Emily, always a more savvy buyer, spots something fishy at the opposite stall.
Going in for a closer look, she discovers the trout-shaped vase to be an original green Gluggle jug, which we find out later can be sold for up to £85.
While she deliberates the £15 price tag, unwise to the jug’s value, we stand chatting to Na’an Meikleour, the owner of stall Feeoni’s.
Stall named after crafter’s late daughter
Na’an reveals the stall is named after her late daughter, who passed away three years ago.
“I had to get out after my daughter died, I didn’t know what to do with myself, so I started coming here,” explains Na’an, 80, who is an avid crocheter and knitter, and a mainstay of the crafting scene in Birnam, where she lives.
“Morris (Leslie) said to come here and have a unit and it’s been good.”
My eye is caught by a rainbow-coloured, rather risque crochet dress which is draped elegantly over a mannequin. It looks familiar, but I can’t think where I’ve seen it before.
“My granny taught me to knit and crochet,” says Na’an when she spies me looking. “I don’t think she meant for me to do things like that, mind you – she’d have a fit if she saw that.”
Then offhandedly she adds: “I made a few of them for Cher back in the day. Tina Turner too, she was one of my best customers.”
Much like the yarn project Na’an’s waiting to get back to, I’m hooked.
Tina, Marti and Cher? What a yarn
“It was back in the late 70s, early 80s,” recalls Na’an. “I was doing law in the City of London and I went over to Covent Garden one day when the food market was closing down.
“There were six of us who were quite crafty and we decided to set up a craft fair. We used to give the winos a couple of pounds to disappear, so we could set up. It got bigger and bigger, and now there’s about 500 stalls there at least.
“I was doing these dresses, and my pal Jeffrey kept saying ‘you’ll never sell that’. Then one day Marti Caine, the actress and comedienne, walked past and asked me to make her one, but when I watched her show, I never saw her wear it.
“A while later, it had been the Variety Club awards or something, and one of the girls came running in and said: ‘Have you got the Daily Express?’ And there was Marti with the dress on.
“It said underneath it: ‘This was made by a wee woman in the wilds of Scotland’. Bloody cheek!”
Cher ‘a different shape every time’
From there, Na’an went on to remake the dress for megastars Cher and Tina Turner.
“Tina Turner was wonderful, and Cher’s fun!” smiles Na’an. “She’s got a black one, it’s like a spider’s web – she wears it a lot. But the only thing that holds it on is the bit at the top, so you’ve got to make it to fit the body, and you need to have the body in front of you.
“I’ve made three for Cher and she’s been a different shape every time!”
Needless to say, Emily buys the Gluggle jug – “£10 for you dear”. And we spend our remaining £3 on four delicious, freshly-fried doughnuts topped with cinnamon sugar from the van outside.
Turns out getting up at 6am on a Sunday was worth it after all.
Errol Sunday Market is open from 6am-3pm every Sunday at Errol Airfield.
Conversation