Black Bart has left the field – R.I.P. Paddy Fletcher

 

 

One thing that made the fairs fairs, rather than festivals, was the dominance of theatre and Incubus were the first among many fine troupes who brought street theatre to the fields of East Anglia. And Paddy was the constant, the writer and the director and the finest and funniest foul mouthed beggar, goblin and alien punk to be found in those fair fields.

He will be missed.

The Grand Tour 2016

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Hello all, here’s where we’ll be this year.

Hope you can make one or some…

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The Weird and Wonderful Wood Fair – 14th and 15th May

Harlequin Fayre  – 4th to the 7th August

Folk East  – 19th to the 21st August

Maui Waui  – 2nd to the 4th September

(For more info, follow the links).

NOTE:

In a previous post it was stated that this year the Weird and Wonderful Wood Fair was going to be the last one, this was incorrect. Thankfully it will continue next year as usual. Apologies..

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(Fairs Archive at Harlequin Fayre, 2015)

With love, as always, The Fairs Archive crew..

 

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RIP Bruce

Bruce Lacey, has died, aged 88.

Jill and Bruce – Elemental Co-ordination at Barsham in 1976

Bruce and Jill first came to the fairs for the Last Barsham in 1976, and they became a regular fixture from then on, moving to Wymondham two or three years later. In 1981 and 1982, they organised the fair at Lyng, under the name the Faerie Faire.

Much loved by many many people, he will be missed.

 

OLD HALL CEILIDH

As many of you will know, Old Hall in East Bergholt has been a community since 1974 and hosted 4 fairs: Fire (1979), Moon (1980), Rainbow (1981) and Earth (1982). We were invited to take the exhibition there as part of a Ceilidh organised by resident Dan Wheals, yet again it was like going home for the Archive!

The Fairs Archive’s yurt was set up in the chapel, (now deconsecrated) and fitted perfectly in the area that once contained the altar below an ancient wall painting still resplendent with gold foil. We all jigged the night away to the SOAS Ceilidh band “fiddling in support of refugees”. Everyone had a wonderful time and Old Hall proved to be welcoming and generous hosts.

A fascinating account of Old Hall and chapel can be found at www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/oldhall.htm and you can read about the community at Old Hall’s site:  oldhall.org.uk

With love and light,

The Fairs Archive

ORAL HISTORY

Hi everyone

We are hoping to get some funding to develop an oral history strand to add to the existing Barsham and Albion digital and physical archive. Need I say that  your memories are our greatest resource!

If you would be interested in participating, could you reply by sending an email to fairsarchive@gmail.com and this will enable me to keep all the replies together. We will then get in touch with you to establish a few more details.

Thanks everyone :0]

Announcing…..

A CEILIDH

at

OLD HALL

East Bergholt

Featuring the SOAS Ceilidh Band

with

The Fairs Archive

+ Mystery Guests

Saturday, 28 November 2015

from 19:00 to 23:00 (GMT)

FOR FULL DETAILS CLICK HERE

Looks like it’s going to be a good one,

so be there if you can…

Three in one..

Hardly a breathing space between them for us, so here’s three events in one post.

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Harlequin Fayre 2015

A fabulous new site and perfect weather, can’t see how it can get better than that.

Pitched in the embrace of three hawthorn trees, the yurt/exhibition was placed in the most perfect spot so far on its travels. The potential for this site to produce some magical Harlequins in the future is enormous if handled right. The nature of the site leads to a sort of secretive layout were things can be discovered down woodland paths sheltered by so many magnificent old trees. Some beguiling street theatre and a lot of good music served to keep everyone entertained.

…………………………….*…………………………….

Folk East 2015

  

Although lacking some of the attractions that have added to its trademark over recent years, it was still a wonderfully atmospheric event. The crafts area was particularly fascinating, being populated by some very talented artists. Enjoyed by more visitors than before, hopefully success is finally starting to build for John and his team after all their hard work over the years and so it should, musical events like this without the taint of a corporate undertow are all too rare these days. Some class acts were on, notably Martin Carthy, Neil Innes and our faves,The Unthanks, who were utterly magical in the drifting fog that crept in during their performance. Pitched in what has become our regular spot near the entrance to the lovely Soapbox Stage, we had our usual birds-eye view of yet another wonderful site.

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Maui Waui 2015

An open flat field, that’s what we like, camping became a joy and produced a nice comfortable end to our season. Maui’s now familiar clover field gave us all a wide open venue to enjoy. A breath of fresh air and lots of good music enjoyed by an enthusiastic audience. A feel of the old fairs, which seems to be some sort of assumed bench mark for these events, was ever-present in its looseness and optimism and many of the attendees were very familiar with those times, which contributed to the ambience. The presence of the inflatables of the family Harries only served to add to that resonance, particularly with the Albion fairs. Maybe one day we may even get to see, once more, the giant earth globe, featured in so many of our gallery photos. Or maybe that’s just wishful thinking, hope not…

It was also the scene of the draw for the 2015 raffle which had been running since May. Mr John Row again randomly selected the winning tickets for us. Congratulations ! Cathy Hembry, (green ticket 122) and Hugh Jones, (green ticket 224).

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We’d like to extend our thanks to everyone involved in these three events, Sam, John, Silas and everyone that worked with them, especially the stewards, security and litter pickers, for the warm welcome that we received. Also, warmest thanks to everyone who supported us morally and financially, with kind words, donations and purchases. Without you, we couldn’t have done any of the events this year, let alone these three.  Here’s to 2016..!