The Showmen's Guild of Great Britain exists to protect the interests of Travelling

Showmen Showman can have a variety of meanings, usually by context and depending on the country. Australia Travelling showmen are people who run amusement and side show equipment at regional shows, state capital shows, events and festivals througho ...

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

. The Showmen's Guild was founded as the United Kingdom Van Dwellers Protection Association in 1889 in Salford. The formation of the guild was the main turning point of Showmen identifying their lifestyle as a culture rather than an occupation, leading to the idea of Travelling Showmen being a cultural group. Due to being an insular community, most marriages being within the community, their own language (called Paylaree), their own traditions and customs, and long lineages within the community, most Showmen identify as being part of their own unique cultural group. Due to travelling about, the average British Showman has a mix of

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

and/or Irish heritage. Lots have partial

Romani Romani may refer to: Ethnicities * Romani people, an ethnic group of Northern Indian origin, living dispersed in Europe, the Americas and Asia ** Romani genocide, under Nazi rule * Romani language, any of several Indo-Aryan languages of the Roma ...

(mainly

Romanichal Romanichal Travellers ( ; more commonly known as English Gypsies or English Travellers) are a Romani subgroup within the United Kingdom and other parts of the English-speaking world. There are an estimated 200,000 Romani in the United Kingdom; ...

) and partial Irish Traveller heritage too, but despite this, Showmen developed as a group separately to both Irish Travellers and Romanichal Travellers, and their roots, cultures, traditions and diddicoy identity are separate and distinct. In 1917, the Showmen's Guild of Great Britain, as it became known, was recognised as the

trade association A trade association, also known as an industry trade group, business association, sector association or industry body, is an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific Industry (economics), industry. An industry tra ...

for the travelling funfair business. It acquired the right to represent the business at local and national levels. It exists to promote and protect the Showmen's way of life and to preserve the unique cultural heritage of travelling fairs and circuses. The Guild has a code of rules and also makes representations concerning proposed

legislation Legislation is the process or result of enrolled bill, enrolling, enactment of a bill, enacting, or promulgation, promulgating laws by a legislature, parliament, or analogous Government, governing body. Before an item of legislation becomes law i ...

when appropriate. It has a membership of around 4,700 people and is organized into ten regional sections. In April 2018 Joe Mercer LLB MBA FCMI ACG, was appointed as General Secretary. Joe Mercer is currently the Secretary to the Association of Circus Proprietors. It supports the

National Fairground Archive National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

, set up in 1994 at the

University of Sheffield , mottoeng = To discover the causes of things , established = – University of SheffieldPredecessor institutions: – Sheffield Medical School – Firth College – Sheffield Technical School – University College of Sheffield , type = Pu ...

. The Showmen's Guild organizes fairs, such as St Giles' Fair in

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, co-organized with the Oxford City Council.

References

External links

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Incredible skill of old-fashioned fairground signwriter
16 July 2013, BBC Organizations established in 1889 Trade associations based in the United Kingdom Circus-related organizations 1889 establishments in the United Kingdom {{UK-org-stub