Memorandum by Sandra Wright (Partner)
W Marshall's Amusements (TF 18)
My testament regarding our lost Fairground
sites and other issues relating to West Yorkshire Fairs
Traditionally, the majority of Showpeople have
travelled the same circuit of fairs for a great many years and
then for a short period of each year become a part of the local
community.
Five generations of the Marshall family have
travelled in the West Riding of Yorkshire but have been mainly
associated with the city of Bradford and surrounding areas.
The Marshall family have owned three traditional
fairground sites. Two of those were compulsorily purchased by
the Council and subsequently re-developed. The third site, at
Wibsey near Bradford, was also CPO'd by the Council but they have
retained this as the local fairground. Wibsey is the only one
of our original Fairs left.
In the early 1980s Bradford Metropolitan Council
Leisure Services' Sub Committee passed the following resolutions:
1. No fairs would be allowed to operate on
a Sunday. This has applied to privately run fairs only. Fairs
incorporated within a larger event are able to open on Sundays,
eg Charity Galas, local carnivals, Festivals, etc.
2. No new nominated fairground sites will
be available in the Bradford Metropolitan District. This second
resolution has lost us forever our Spring and Autumn circuit of
fairs. This represents a total of 19 weekends in each year.
We are only surviving in the Bradford area during
the Summer season by our Fair attending local charity galas, festivals,
etc., because the resolution which was passed does not apply in
these circumstances or to these events and there are a number
of parks and Recreation grounds readily available.
The following is a list of Fairs, which we have
lost, but not as a result of complaints over noise or nuisance,
but through compulsory purchase of our family's land and town
centre and/or housing development.
We have also lost our Easter Fair in Lister
Park, Bradford since 1997, although we have been assured by the
Council that this site will be available again in 2002. Unfortunately
the Council were unwilling to grant us use of an alternative site
in the meantime.
The following is a list of places where there
are alternative sites in parks and recreation grounds in the Bradford
District and which we have attended with our fair as part of a
larger event.
Great HortonBradford Moor.
Up to 1995 we had established a Christmas Fair
in Bradford City Centre, close to City Hall.
Prior to the commencement of the reconstruction
of Bradford City Centre, to be named "Centenary Square"
we were invited to a meeting on 15 January 1996, called "Technical
Design Meeting Fairground Operations". The purpose of the
meeting was to discuss the operation and technical issues of Fairground
equipment in the City Centre, specifically, Centenary Square and
Broadway.
We have not been allowed on the Square since
its completion and once again another Fair, our Christmas Fair,
has been lost and another site denied.
However as part of a larger event we have been
invited by organisers to supply small amounts of amusements around
the perimeter of Centenary Square.
The Marshalls have travelled in the West Riding
of Yorkshire for 150 years. The Marshalls were the first to bring
Cinema to Bradford, to the site in fact which now houses the National
Museum of Photography, Cinema and Television.
We strongly feel that Bradford Council has and
does now treat in an unfair manner and has no understanding of
the hardship they have caused to our family, the businesses and
our tenants these past years.
Other local authorities have a more positive
attitude towards Showpeople and their requirements.
Leeds: Parks and Countryside Division
have provided us with more security by granting to us Three to
Five Year Licences for Fairs in their parks.
Calderdale: Have opened new parks this
year to accommodate us.
Wakefield: Although Wakefield compulsorily
purchased one of our family owned sites in Castleford have after
a lapse of a few years found us an alternative ground in a good
location.
Kirklees: Highways Department, despite
fierce opposition from local groups and senior citizens living
adjacent granted us a trial fair on what was Batley's local fairground
for many generations. I am pleased to report that we are now entering
our fourth year back at Batley.
If the above Local Authorities had adopted the
same policy as Bradford there would be very few traditional Fairs
left in West Yorkshire.
February 2000
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