Circus

I happened to listen to Midweek on Radio 4 this week, and one of the guests was the lady who started Gifford's Circus, which has just moved on from Hay on tour. They tour for six months of the year, and rehearse the show in winter quarters, on the farm where they also make their own vintage style wagons.
I was telling a fellow dog walker about it this morning, under the bridge, and her first comment was: "Is she still alive?" The vintage style had misled her into thinking that it was a much older circus than it actually is - they only started in 2000. Nell Gifford started out by taking all sorts of jobs in different circuses, from selling popcorn to selling tickets in the box office to working with horses, to learn how circuses worked from the inside. The website is at www.giffordscircus.com
In the shop at the end of last week we had a customer who bought several books on circus and theatre. Rachel was on the desk at the time, and had a pleasant chat with him, and he said that he was going to supper with Gifford's Circus that evening. He turned out to be Gerry Cottle, who also owned a circus, and recently bought Wookey Hole! He knew Goffee, our local clown and mastermind behind Hay-on-Fire, as well.