Write to the book

The book takes letters. Most notes in it began as a question somebody actually asked: how long a parlour show should run, what a fete expects from a strolling performer, whether a balloon can be folded in front of thirty children without tears. If you have a question of that kind, about the craft rather than about a booking, it is welcome.

What the book can take up

Questions about the craft itself: the running order of a birthday show, the skills of the small circus, what a school fair asks of its performers, the paperwork that follows an entertainer home. Questions about something you watched and could not place: a trick, a routine, a prop, a term. Corrections, always: if a note is wrong, say where, and it will be checked against the record and stamped when it is fixed.

What the book cannot take up

The Tin Whistle does not book performers, recommend acts, or pass messages to entertainers. It cannot quote prices, check a performer's insurance, or tell you whom to hire for a party in Surbiton. For that, the honest answers are the trade bodies and the public record, the same places this book checks first.

How to write

Write to [email protected]. Give the question plainly, say what room it concerns if it concerns one, and expect a note rather than a brochure. Letters are read in the order they arrive; a question that makes a good note may be answered in the book itself, with the questioner unnamed.