The Fairs Scene
The faires and fairs were the most visible manifestation of a social and cultural network that spread from its Waveney origins throughout East Anglia and beyond
The Waveney Clarion was the newspaper. Its startup funds were from the profits of the first Barsham Faire. Its initial team included Sandra and Andy Bell who had been journalists in London before decamping to East Anglia.
Thanks to the fine work of Borin Van Loon and Don Mathew the Clarion now has its own website
The East Anglian Arts Trust was set up in 1971. Funded by the Barsham Faires, by smaller events and later by some of the Albion Fairs. EAAT was the official parent organisation under whose umbrella, Barham, Bungay and the Albion Fairs were organised and funds raised by the successful fairs were used to support other activities throughout the year.
Books
Build Another Barsham was written by Sandra Bell as a do it yourself faires manual. It also did a good job of demonstrating the spirit that made them. It was used by other groups as the inspiration or template to create their own events, including Hood Fair in Devon and Polgooth/Elephant Fair in Cornwall.
As the time of the fairs drew to a close, Richard Barnes sought to tell the story in the words of participants and with photos taken by himself and others. Long out of print we have here a selection of pieces and pictures from the book he produced: The Sun in the East
is this system working?