Summercourt is a sleepy village in central Cornwall, in the parish of St Enoder. For eight hundred years there has been a Michaelmas fair held here (now centred around 25th September each year), founded on an ancient royal charter. I remember my first visit, when I was about four years old. My mother and I were walking near our house when my grandfather appeared in his car on his way to the fair. Apparently, my grandmother was not interested in it. Anyway, I asked whether I could go too and so off we went. I recall enjoying my first toffee apple and how I wanted a goldfish too. We stayed until after twilight and I sensed, for the first time, the strange spookiness of fairgrounds and then he took me home. Eight years later, on 25th September 1972, my sister came to me in the garden to tell me that my grandfather had died that afternoon. This is one date that I will never forget.