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Searching for Appleby Fair.
Extract from Travellers Times Magazine 2021.
'Focusing upon the place that more than any other has come to embody almost every aspect of Gypsy life 'Searching for Appleby Fair' is (the Author’s ) attempt to find - amid its modern-day sights and sounds - evidence of a Gypsy past made present through a love of horses, the gypsy campfire, the coming together of family and friends and above all an implacable belief in a roaming Gypsy's right to 'be there'.
...'By combining beautiful and evocative photographs linked to present-day narrative accounts and historical records, he has so far succeeded in producing a compelling and thoughtful narrative in his search for signs of continuity between Appleby past and Appleby present.'
...'His observations of a first visit to Appleby ( the wettest in living memory ) are both hilarious and moving. Brian's account of those personal circumstances (life-changing illness, trauma, and loss ) that first set him on the road to Appleby is typically understated:
'all lost souls are travellers of sorts'.
...'Once completed, he hopes his book might better inform the ongoing debates concerning the future of Appleby Horse Fair, an event which many non-gypsies regard at best a mere facsimile of a romantic gypsy past, one that is itself questionable and at worst 'another' symbol of a volatile and archaic culture that has no place in the British 'mainstream'. Despite his experience in Social Research, Brian is anxious to dispel any notion of his forthcoming book being classified in such a way. '
...'It was never my intention for this book to be interpreted as Research, ' he says. 'I accepted long ago that I had become too close to my subject to afford the Work an appropriate level of objectivity, nor is it of sufficient length to qualify as Research. Rather, I intend to bring together compelling imagery and narrative in a way which invites questions and stimulates discussion between those on all sides of the argument concerning the future of Appleby '.
Owing to illness, the Book's publication date has been re-scheduled for Dec 2025.



































