Historic fair ready to return to town

It wouldn’t feel like Valentine’s Day in Lynn the Mart, which is set to return in a few weeks.The team are planning their return and will begin setting up on the Tuesday Market Place on Sunday, February 11 at 6pm and will open as usual on February 14 at noon.The funfair is known for filling the marketplace with family-favourite amusements such as teacups and dodgems as well as bigger rides including ‘High Energy’ and ‘Tagada’ are back by popular demand.

Chief operator Lawrence Appleton, known to many as Nipper, is hoping the weather will be on his side after several storms has swept across the country.Nipper said: “We are looking forward to opening the Mart and hoping mother nature will be kind.“We’ve got everything in place, myself and our secretary have everything in place for Sunday.”

Mr Appleton explained that the fair’s children’s day was popular last year, the day gives hundreds of children the opportunity to enjoy rides at the Mart at a reduced price.A children’s day will be held again this year on February 19 and a special needs day will be held on February 16.He said: “Children’s day was very busy last year, with the cost of living crisis, that day is an important one for those children.

“Some of the other days were sluggish because of the state of people’s finances in the country.”Nipper, who took on the role as Chief Operator last year, explained his family has been involved with the historic funfair for around 200 years.“My family have been coming here for generations, Lynn is a special place to do the show,” Nipper said.He added: “All of our showmen friends attend the mart here in Lynn.“It was the first chartered fair in Great Britain, it is important that we maintain that tradition.“It is of course a big tradition also here in Lynn, it has been coming to Lynn for 819 years.”

This year the Mart will be closing at 9.00pm, an hour earlier than normal each night.The final day of the Mart in Lynn is February 24, before the fair moves onto Wisbech.