Dates

• Existence: Born 1952

Biography

Martin Burridge is a fairground enthusiast and historian from Barnstaple as well as a reporter for the Wold’s Fair newspaper.

Martin was born in 1952 in Barnstaple. He developed an interest in fairgrounds when his mother took him and his siblings to Barnstaple Fair as a child during the 1960s. From a young age he went to watch the lorries arrive and the showmen set up in anticipation of the excitement of the fair and after some time he got involved doing jobs for the showmen.

His interest in fairgrounds and the families who run them, developed into historic research and study of the business and culture. Martin forged many friendships with showmen families that visited his native Barnstaple during the month of September every year for the fair and his close relationship with them and his commitment to their culture gained him an honorary membership of the Showmen's Guild of Great Britain in 2002.

Martin is the author of 'Barnstaple Charter Fair', published in 2016, which traces the history of the fair and the some of the showmen and performers who attended it. Additionally, he often reported for the World’s Fair newspaper and has amassed an extensive photographic library of Barnstaple Fair over the years, dating from the 1800s to the twenty first century.

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