Appleby Fair by Joe Webb

Although Joe lacked confidence in his reading and writing he has come on in leaps and bounds through the work he has been doing on horses and horse-fairs, so much so that he has gained a level in Literacy at school and is hoping to get Level 4 in this year's SATs.

"There are mixtures of smells at Appleby like fish and chips, which is lovely, and horses feet, which is disgusting," Joe writes, bringing the fair to life for all those who have never experienced the Cumbrian highpoint of the Travellers' calendar.

He is looking forward to going to secondary school in September and is excited about the new subjects he will do and also the new friends he will make.

Well done Joe!

Here's Joe's work in full:

"Appleby fair is a place where Travellers go to buy, sell and show their horses. They also drive their wagons and trotters up and down the road to show them off. There is an enormous market there that sells just about everything that a Travellers needs.

"The fair takes place in Appleby village, which is in Cumbria. It always starts in the first week of June and lasts for about a week, but some people stay there for a bit longer.

"Most Travellers pull their trailers on to the fields around the out-skirts of the fair. The fields get packed with Travellers and sometimes there is some trouble, which is why we slept in our Jeep in the layby.

"Saturday and Sunday are the best days because they are the busiest. On Saturday the biggest numbers of Travellers are there, washing their horses in the river as well as riding and driving them up and down the roads and hills. By Sunday most of the Travellers are starting to leave, but there are still things going on.

"There is a lot to see at Appleby; horse-washing, card-playing, horse trading, step-dancing and people enjoying themselves. Appleby is well-known for being a place where young Traveller boys and girls meet their future husband or wife. There are mixtures of smells at Appleby like fish and chips, which is lovely and horses feet, which is disgusting.

"By about 5pm on sunday we decided it was time to go home, but we didn't go straight home; as we were going back to our Jeep we saw a sign for an antiques sales so we went there first.

"At the antiques sale there were lots of wagon models. They were well-made and painted the traditional way. There were pictures of animals and there was a real fox's head for sale. It was a good sale and there were lots of things to buy, but we needed to go home because the time was getting on and we had a long journey ahead.

"It took six hours to get home and I was asleep most of the way. It had been a great weekend and I can't wait to go again."

by Joe Webb