Blog

Our blog is a collection of posts spanning several years, written by a variety of the six ladies from Future 4 Fairgrounds. In these posts, we share our experiences, insights, and perspectives on the fairground industry and our community. Our aim is to offer a platform for discussion and reflection, and to shed light on the challenges and opportunities facing our industry. From personal anecdotes to industry analysis, our blog covers a range of topics, all with the goal of celebrating our history, highlighting our present situation, and protecting our future.

Some incredible Fairground History at Exploring Surrey’s Past

If you’re interested in a bit of history of Fairgrounds, then you might be interested in some pages we’ve found on ‘Exploring Surrey’s Past’ [...]

12
Sep
What’s in a name….
February 2, 2023

“Names are an incredibly important part of everyones identity. They carry deep personal, cultural, familial, and historical connections. They also give us a sense [...]

F4F at Monte Carlo!

Future4fairgrounds had been kindly invited by the European Showmen’s Union ESU/UFE to their 42nd EUROPEAN CONGRESS FAIR UNION (ESU/UFE) a conference that took place [...]

23
Jan
Identity matters- Showmen are not Travellers….
January 10, 2023

Education policy currently has Showmen in a category that you might not be aware of. It is a long thread but I’m trying to [...]

Remembrance
November 8, 2022

Copied and pasted from an old post from The Showmens Guild of Great Britain – Norwich & Eastern Counties Section page We thought it [...]

Memories of growing up on a fairground this time of year! – What Goose Fair means to me

My family have long associations with Nottingham Goose Fair Grandmas and Grandads, Mam and Dad , Uncles and Aunties all my family have opened [...]

05
Oct
What is World Fun Fair Month?

Hi everyone 🎠🎠🎠🎠🎠🎠We would like to let you know about World FunFair Month! 🌍🎠🌏🎠🌎🎠 A full month of events all linked to every aspect [...]

22
Aug
Free Books!

We still have copies of The Show Must Go On to give away to interested schools. Published by Pearson this book is the first [...]

14
Aug
World Fun Fair Month

Celebrate the fairground industry and the Showman community during this unique awareness month in September. To be as inclusive as possible as well as [...]

29
Jul
There’s no place like home!

So have you ever wondered where we live when we are in town with the fairground ? 🤔 Well we take our mobile home [...]

18
Jul
GTRSB Pledge For Schools

If you have Gypsy, Traveller, Roma, Showmen or Boaters in your school then we’d already like to think you understand the different cultures and [...]

18
Jun
Showmen of the Year 2022

Recently we were invited to the Western Section luncheon in Swindon. We had a lovely day it really was a wonderful occasion and while [...]

22
May
The Pledge

Excited to let you all know about The Pledge for Schools which will be launching June 16th. It is a commitment schools sign up [...]

20
May
How can our books be used?

Our book project funds copies of The Show Must Go On to each school. you will receive a number of copies! That way we [...]

05
May
A bit about me

Hi! I just wanted to introduce myself and explain a bit about Future4fairgrounds who are a group of 6 women. All Showmen based all [...]

24
Apr
A reason to celebrate Showmen

World Fun Fair Month is about bringing together all aspects of what a fairground is and raising awareness of everything in a positive way [...]

05
Apr
Travelling School at the Town Moor Newcastle

This is a fantastic sound bite to listen to. every year at Newcastle Town Moor 100s of Showmen children have the opportunity to attend [...]

03
Apr
A Showman’s Education

Easter is a busy time with many Showmen families turned out for a long period. Our homes move with our businesses and of course [...]

28
Mar
How do Showmen identify in education

I know it’s a long post and I’m sorry I can’t explain it in a shorter way but please read to the end. – [...]

12
Mar
World Book Day 2022

Happy World Book Day! F4F together with co author of The Show Must Go On Michelle Russell and The Activity Bus have launched a [...]

11
Mar
Did you know???

Things you might not know about your local Visiting Funfair The people who own and operate the fairs in the UK are Called “Showmen” [...]

11
Mar
Who are F4F and what are we doing?

Future4fairgrounds are a group of 6 lady Showmen who came together in September 2020 because of our concerns surrounding the issues Showmen were facing [...]

04
Feb
Shortlisted for an award!

We were delighted to hear we have been nominated and shortlisted for an award for our work award in education. we have been invited [...]

27
Jan
Books Books Books

Another 1000 copies of The Show Must Go On have been gifted to more schools around the UK. Schools that understand the need for [...]

27
Jan
Michelle Russell Author

Michelle Russell – co author of The Show must Go On speaks eloquently to Early Years TV about the importance of positive representation in [...]

24
Oct
School sign posts!

More information to additional teaching resources based on the ground breaking book – The Show Must Go On produced by the co author Michelle [...]

18
Oct
Do you know what a wakelet is?

No, neither did we but the amazing Samantha Heeson (Leeds Beckett University) has created this one for us! Please take a look it puts [...]

28
Sep
Yay!! the books have arrived!

Day 22 of #WorldFunFairMonth and finally we have books! Huge thanks to Pearson the publisher and my local #postman our schools project can now [...]

22
Sep
Thoughts from 2020

It’s been a full year since I wrote this. It popped up on my Facebook memories. Future4fairgrounds wasn’t formed at the time and we [...]

20
Sep
September 11th

As we turn our attention to America today remembering 20 years ago we wanted to be able to share these photos with you. [...]

11
Sep