'On my journeys over the sands in front of Porthcawl fairground, I become many things: geologist, archaeologist, historian, mapmaker, diviner, tidal detective. But really I'm none of those. I'm a seeker.'
And it is on a journey of exploration and discovery that Robert Minhinnick and Eamon Bourke take us in
Porthcawl is traditionally one of the great holiday resorts of Wales:
its funfair and beaches once provided the valleys' miners with their annual summer playground, and gave generations of Sunday schooltrippers their first taste of forbidden fruit. And it continues to draw pleasure seekers from near and far. Indeed, it is estimated that the fair itself has attracted over a million visitors since 1945.
But Fairground Music is no statistical chronicle. It is an evocation of memories and associations, of impressions and sensations. This poetic narrative is complemented by the witty spontaneity of the photography, as Minhinnick and Bourke combine to capture a sense of place that can comfort and disturb in equal measure
