Fair Scotland

Glasgow's Young Showpeople
Project 2024🎉 It's not too late to join us!

📅 Date: Thurs 6th June 2024
📍 Location: Cuningar Loop Bothy
🕚 Time: 3:30pm - 6:00pm

We have a fun day filled with art, games and play for young showmen aged 8+.

The project will engage participants in community-based arts through interactive workshops, including:

📖 Storytelling workshop around the book "The Show Must Go On," illustrated by Glasgow Showman Mitch Miller Dialectograms - And Other Things.
🤡 Gonk-making workshop by Fair Scotland.
✏️ Sketching tour of a local Showmen's yard.
🍭 Candyfloss twirling.
🛠️ Build-your-own model machine activity.
🎨 Art workshop to design the Fair Scotland logo.
🍕 Pizza party.

Organisers: Fair Scotland EPIC Assist Charity Scotland The Showmen’s Mental Health Awareness Charity and funded by Glasgow Health and Social Care Partnership 🤝

🎉NEXT WEEK THURSDAY JUNE 6TH🎉

We have a busy day next Thursday! In the afternoon (3:30pm-6pm) we have the Glasgow's Young Showpeople project and in the morning (11am-13:30pm) we invite all parents and partners to join us for a feedback and evaluation networking lunch 🤝 we will also have 2x cultural awareness talks and panel of Showpeople to ask more questions. 🎤✋

If you are a parent or young Showperson and want to attend our youth project please get in touch, send a message or call 07815820703 to book your place.

If you are interested in attending our morning session to learn and have great discussions together, email [email protected] or send a message/call 07815820703 to book your place.

‼️🎠🎡 BATHGATE GALA FAIR 🎡🎠‼️

It's Danger Night! We will be opening tonight from 5pm to 10pm at the Showground!

⭐️⭐️ ALL RIDES £2 ALL NIGHT ⭐️⭐️

We have one of the biggest fairs in recent years with a massive 14 adult rides 4 funhouses and plenty of rides for the kids! Not forgetting all the food of the fair 🍔🍟🍕🌭🌮🌯🍡🍬🍭

⚠️⚠️ WELLIE BOOTS ⚠️⚠️

With the recent rain the Showground is not at its best we have had local contractors in with a JCB to fix the ground in places and had 40 tonnes of stones delivered to make the walk ways much more accessible for you all.

Please wear some old footwear or wellie boots if you are coming along tonight.

See you all tonight from 5pm 😁😁😁

📸 - Scotland from above

Horne's Pleasure Fairs
Making Memories
For Over 100 Years
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦👨‍👩‍👧‍👦👨‍👩‍👧‍👦👨‍👩‍👧‍👦👨‍👩‍👧‍👦👨‍👩‍👧‍👦👨‍👩‍👧‍👦👨‍👩‍👧‍👦

****Attention all partners and parents****

We are thrilled to announce our latest community-led Showmen’s Youth Project, in partnership with the Showmen’s Mental Health Awareness Charity and Fair Scotland Charity. We would love for you to join us at our Project Launch and Feedback session, featuring cultural awareness training and a networking lunch!

Event Details:

📅 Date: Thurs 6th June 2024
📍 Location: Cuningar Loop Bothy
🕚 Time: 11am - 1:30pm

Why Attend?

🔍 Learn & Share: Discover insights from Sheldon Chadwick's PhD Exhibition on Showmen's mental health, which revealed that 85% of Showmen have experienced discrimination and 89% report that it contributes to negative or anxious feelings.

🎨 Engage & Inspire: Help Fair Scotland create a space where young people can experience positive representation and take pride in their identity to improve mental health, through community-based arts and storytelling.

🤝 Network & Connect: Enjoy a delicious lunch while connecting with other supporters and sharing your invaluable feedback.

Who Are Showmen?

"Showpeople" are the cultural minority who own and operate travelling Fairgrounds in the UK. During stationary periods, they live on "Showmen’s Yards" over 70 council and private owned yards across Glasgow. This is the largest demographic of Showpeople in the UK, with approximately 6,000 individuals living here for over two centuries.

Youth Workshop Activities:

The project will engage participants in community-based arts through interactive workshops, including:

📖 Storytelling workshop around the book "The Show Must Go On," illustrated by Glasgow Showman Mitch Miller.
🤡 Gonk-making workshop.
✏️ Sketching tour of a local Showmen's yard.
🍭 Candyfloss twirling.
🛠️ Build-your-own model machine activity.
🎨 Art workshop to design the Fair Scotland logo.
🍕 Pizza party.
RSVP Now!

We’d love to have you join us and share your feedback on our project. Please RSVP to [email protected] and let us know if you have any dietary requirements.

🎠 Upcoming Youth Workshop
6th June from 3:30pm-6pm 🎡🎢

The Showmen’s Mental Health Awareness Charity and EPIC Assist Charity Scotland have invited Fair Scotland to host a Youth Workshop for Show Children in Glasgow.

This event will be open to all children aged 8+ (under 14s must be accompanied by an adult).

We will have lots of activities from gonk-making to, candy floss twirling and build your own model machine.

The main activity will be an interactive workshop by Showmen artist and illustrator of the “Show Must Go On” children's book PearsonPublishers Mitch Miller Dialectograms - And Other Things

This will include a sketching tour of the Yard and a design-the-Fair Scotland-Logo workshop.

We will end the day with a Pizza Party on the Yard 🍕😎

If you are interested in your child attending please send an email to [email protected] or text 07815820703

Every child will receive a copy of the “The Show Must Go On” Book, and gift bag full of art supplies and workbooks before the day.

Thank you Health and Social Care Partnership Glasgow for funding this project 🙏

Recently, the UK Govt. decided to ratify the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage. This presents an opportunity for Fairs and the culture built around them to apply for ICH status, something that can help safeguard their future..

The Dept. for Culture, Media and Sport has opened a consultation on ICH. would strongly encourage individuals & orgs with an interest in the survival of Fairs to fill in the consultation by midnight 29 February. https://dcms.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_9MsgupKs6P9kxw2

These would include:
-Showpeople across the UK
- Local Orgs, community events & festivals that are supported by funfairs & recognise their contribution to local life & culture
-Educational & charitable orgs that work with Travelling Showpeople.
-Researchers & funfair enthusiasts

The consultation form uses a lot of 'govt speak' so FS has developed some guidance notes to share advice we have received from ICH experts. This includes suggested responses, but feel free to fill it in as you see fit! You can find the guidance here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/15afuTvJYAV4CxWbghbIv7QADkoOM13pD/view?usp=sharing

If you have any questions that the notes do not answer, then please do DM us and we'll do what we can to help!

Guidance for UK Gov ICH Online Consultation – complete by midnight 29 Feb 2024 (v2)

*Current UK Government Consultation on ICH – closing midnight 29 Feb – Guidance from Fair Scotland (urgent – pls share)*

Greetings -
Please see attached pdf (detailed guidance) and below (basic links) which Fair Scotland Trustees have worked hard to compile. With apologies for the tight turnaround, we hope you will share this with relevant organisations and individual Showpeople so we can have a broad range of submissions from across the UK.

This consultation represents an important opportunity and we urge you to both fill in the survey and to share widely. Please note that this guidance will be relevant for Gala Day, Common Riding, Highland Game Committees as well as individuals.

*We sincerely hope you will take a few minutes to complete this short survey by midnight 29 Feb.*

Best Wishes,
Fair Scotland Trustees
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
*Re: Current UK Gov Consultation on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)*

The UK Government announced on 23 Dec 2023 that it will ratify the UNESCO Convention for Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH). Towards this, the Dept of Media Culture and Sport opened an online consultation which closes 29 February 2024.

Fair Scotland has taken advice on the consultation as it relates specifically to the potential of ICH status being granted for Fairgrounds and Showpeople across the UK.

*We strongly encourage individuals and organisations to fill in the online survey by midnight 29 February, including:*
👉🏽*Showpeople* across the UK (as individuals)
👉🏽*Local organisations that have Fun Fairs supporting their community events* (including AIS, SIRP, ACES, ACP, and local councils). You can use this guidance to highlight the historic importance and contributions of Showpeople and other communities to your local area.
👉🏽*Any organisation that relies on Showpeople to support their events* (Highland Games Committees, Gala Committees, Local Fetes, etc). You can use this guidance to show your support of Fairs and other traditional community events receiving ICH status.

The consultation uses a lot of ‘government speak’ so we’ve produced the pdf guidance to share the advice we have received. We provide suggested responses below for all questions, but of course fill in as you see fit.

*LINK TO THE CONSULTATION – Submit by midnight 29 Feb*

ICH Consultation Survey, DCMS DCMS survey on the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage. Closes 29 February 2024.

“It’s all a Show” Exhibition at the The National Fairground and Circus Archive in partnership with The Showmen’s Mental Health Awareness Charity invited Fair Scotland to have a display in their travelling exhibition. Thank you for having us contribute and for our continued partnership 👏👏👏

Fair Scotland had our first meeting of 2024 🎉 thank you to everyone who attended and to our amazing host Melvyn Thomas, who gave us a tour around his collection of vintage fairground memorabilia. 🎠🎡🎢

The Fair Scotland Team want to wish all of our a Happy New Year!! Keep watching 👀 this space to find out more on the fantastic projects we have lined up for 2024 🙌

Only a few free tickets left for our walk this Thursday! Book your place now and learn all about the history of Dumfries’ Fairgrounds…

📅 THIS THURSDAY 28th September
🕔 5:15 pm – 6:30 pm
📍 Starting Point: East side of the Suspension Bridge (Dockhead / A781)

🎟 Book your FREE place:
http://Bit.ly/FairgroundWalk

The Rood Fair is back in town! 🎡🎠🎟️

Celebrate the rich history of the fair with the Fairground Walkabout: Showpeople and the Dumfries Rood Fair this Thursday!

Join Fair Scotland, learn some fair history and meet Showpeople who travel to Dumfries from across Scotland to make it happen.

Many Showfamilies have operated on the banks of the Nith for generations – hear their stories while walking the route of local fairgrounds, past & present. This will be our first-ever walking tour through the Rood Fair – don’t miss it!

Taking place from 5:15pm - 6:30pm, on Thursday, the 28th of September, this FREE tour is a must-see!

BOOK NOW! 👉http://Bit.ly/FairgroundWalk👈

PLEASE NOTE: Due to rising cases of COVID-19, for the safety of our tour hosts and those attending the walk, if you feel unwell, please stay home.

This walk is hosted in partnership with Fair Scotland, a charity created to promote the heritage and future of Scotland’s Showpeople. Supported by the People’s Project.