Brigg Horse Fair

Brigg Fair Memories - Oral history project

Elle Osborne - Tuesday, 20 July 2004

As this is a significant year in the history of Brigg Fair, I'm hoping to make contact with many people at the fair on 5th August. Plans are going well: I've heard from quite a few people in their 80s who remember the fair from their childhoods. The plan is to have a stall at the fair on the day, to publicise the project in the local community and to make contact with potential interviewees.

A bit about me: I was born in Cleethorpes, went to Brigg horse fair a lot as a child, and have been fascinated and inspired by horses ever since. I was raised with a strong interest in folk history through my parents and grandparents who organised the Grimsby folk club and Cleethorpes festival. In recent years, I have toured internationally as a solo musician, using traditional material and folk music as my starting points - I sing and play the fiddle. I also work on arts projects with an interest in documenting and celebrating community diversity.

The focus will be on oldest living memory of the fair, with an emphasis on the perspective of Romany people. I'm hoping to interview people with experiences from their childhood or early working life (so memories from the 1950s and earlier), who were involved with the fair, worked with horses, or went to the fair simply for the experience and atmosphere.

In addition to contacts for potential interviewees, I'm looking for volunteers who can help on the stall on the day: to tell people about the project, hand out leaflets, take contact details, etc . If people can offer only an hour or two, it will be a help. It'll be sure to be an interesting and enjoyable day, meeting lots of people and talking about local history.

Actual interviews will be taking place later. At this stage, it will simply be a case of making contact with potential interviewees. I can be contacted at briggfair@elleo.com.

I'm still planning to have a stall on the day, which is proving a bit tricky, as it's market day too, and all the stalls are taken! It was suggested to me to use a caravan, if I couldn't get a stall. If you know of any possibilities here, that would be great.

Elle Osborne
briggfair@elleo.com