Category: Features

Beamish Museum is world famous as an open-air museum that brings to life the history of the people of the North East. It recently highlighted Showmen in a talk from John Culine MBE. For many years, the Showmen’s Guild has been working to promote recognition …

After spending 15 years at its previous venue, Churchdown Community Centre, until January 2023, the Model Funfair Extravaganza returned in January, to the large complex at Dowty Sports and Social Club. After missing 2024, the Model Funfair Extravaganza returned on Saturday 25 January at the …

Former Lancashire Section chairman Billy Hill has spent most of his travelling career presenting what would nowadays be called side ‘shows’. Here he talks us through these and other attractions that have sustained his family over the past five decades. Yachts My dad, William, bought …

A new trophy was added to the awards for Showmen at Nottingham Goose Fair, courtesy of James Mellors. The Nottingham Goose Fair Awards have now been going for ten years since John Lowery and Spencer Hall donated the first trophies in 2014. Last October a …

The Amusement Devices Inspection Procedures Scheme (ADIPS) held another Safety Health Awareness Day (SHAD) at the Glasgow SEC on 8 January to tie in with the Irn Bru Carnival taking place at the SEC. The day followed the format of the previous day held in …

For just over three months, the Museum of Oxford presented an exhibition celebrating the people whose attractions form the annual St Giles’ Wake Fair. Starting 1 July last year, the exhibition in the museum ran through the summer and coincided with the Showmen’s visit to …

Past Guild President John Culine talks about the role and status of Showmen in address at Carlisle exhibition. Who Showmen are and what they do was the subject of a talk given by Guild Past President John Culine MBE at the Creative Corridor living history …

The Irish Showman shares some of the rides he’s travelled over the years with family firm Murray’s Fun Fairs, whose season starts in Northern Ireland, before moving south from mid-May onwards. Early years Going back to my childhood days, my dad built his own dodgem …

Epilepsy affects 1 in 107 people in the UK. ADIPS General Manager Carl Hagemann explains how to support an employee with the condition. Did you know Epilepsy is one of the most common serious neurological conditions in the world. It affects around 630,000 people in …

The head of Stanley Thurston & Sons shares the rides he’s travelled during his career in and around the Eastern Counties. Thriller My father was also called Stanley. We had various machines in the firm when I was growing up, but the first I took …