BEING the husband of the mayoress of Blackburn may have its exhilarating moments, but that's nothing compared to the thrills of a fast rollercoaster, according to Tommy Sharples.

Taxi driver Tommy is married to mayoress Anne Sharples, and for the past 10 years he has been visiting fairs up and down the country, travelling as far as Great Yarmouth and Kirkcaldy in Scotland.

He videos all the fairs he goes to, so he can relive all the excitement again from the comfort of his armchair when he gets home.

Not only does Tommy love the thrills and spills of being thrown around at great speeds at the fair, he also enjoys building his own fairground models and collecting fairground memorabilia such as tapestries and jigsaws, which he keeps around the house.

From big wheels to ghost trains and rollercoasters, Tommy has lost count of just how many models he has.

His favourite model is a rollercoaster, which he was given as a present for his 50th birthday, and he says it is his most sentimental piece.

His wife is not bothered by her husband's hobby.

In fact, when the couple got married three years ago in Blackpool they had their reception before going to the Pleasure Beach in the evening.

She said: "He loves going to the fairs, and he'll just take off to visit a fair, and then he'll bring back a video of it to watch all over again. I've gone to a lot of places with him apart from this year as I've not had the chance."

Tommy, of Wolseley Street, Ewood, Blackburn, belongs to the Fairground Association of Great Britain.

He subscribes to various specialist fairground newspapers, which give him information about forthcoming travelling fairs.

He said: "If a travelling fair is within a 100 mile radius of my home, and there is a new ride which I haven't been on before, then I'll go."

Tommy will be going on his dream holiday in June. He is jetting off to the theme parks of Florida for three weeks - and he will be filming every stomach churning minute!

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