I was delighted to be invited to meet Chris Raworth at his workshop in Middle Barton, catching him just after he had assembled his set of gallopers. A tall man with a shock of white hair he can barely contain his excitement as he opens the door into a long garage lined with benches overflowing with mechanical parts and crammed with boxes painted with brightly coloured signwriting instantly recognisable as that of the fairground.
Peter Forbes, has been setting up at Gloucester Green market since six thirty in the morning when I arrive at nine. You can’t miss him. “I’ve got the best pitch,” he grins from behind his peaked baseball hat. “I get to choose because I’ve been here the longest. When people come round the corner from George St, I’m the first stall they see – all these shiny things.”
Peter Forbes, has been setting up at Gloucester Green market since six thirty in the morning when I arrive at nine. You can’t miss him. “I’ve got the best pitch,”…
I was delighted to be invited to meet Chris Raworth at his workshop in Middle Barton, catching him just after he had assembled his set of gallopers for the last…
Imagine if you could design your own currency. Decide on an image to represent you, pop in your initials, a date and a pretty border, make the die, and then…
This weekend will mark the 10th anniversary of our annual charity Christmas bulb sale. Let’s face it we all need something to cheer us up during that long stretch between…
You see them all over Oxford. A Victorian invention, standing solidly on the city’s pavements and street corners, or sunk into ancient walls, elegant in design, cheerily welcoming in their…
Next year is the 250th anniversary of Oxford’s Covered Market. Tucked away behind its elegant classical frontage on the High Street, its grid like layout of avenues reaching back to…
Rupert Griffin is fast approaching his busiest time of year when I meet him at the farm just outside Oxford, where he runs his apple pressing operation, Tiddly Pommes. Looking…
Robert Nichols is surrounded by a group of admirers when he’s pointed out to me last Sunday morning. It was set up day for St Giles Fair, the two-day bonanza…