No more fun for Alnwick fair

Feb 15 2008 by Brian Daniel, The Journal

ONE of Northumberland’s major annual events has been axed – because of a lack of community support.

The Alnwick Fair, which has been held on the last week in June for almost 40 years, will not take place this year.

In its heyday, the event attracted hundreds of visitors to Alnwick Market Place and local people would take part – many dressing up in costume in keeping with its traditions.

But as time has passed, there has been criticism of the fair – and many said it was failing to move with the times.

Recent events have been run with a different format, over fewer days and some of the attraction’s main features have been axed.

Yet these efforts to create interest have failed and the organising committee has decided to pull the plug.

Chairman Martin Brown said: “We feel that it has run to the end of its course now. It is 40 years on and it is not receiving the same response as it used to.

“Over the last few years we have tried to change it a bit but it has not really worked.

“I think people are a bit tired of it, they are reluctant to go and join in and have fun.”

Shortage of help to organise and stage the fair has also been a factor – the present committee has only nine members, all of whom work full time. The fair received some funding from local councils but not enough to cover its total costs.

The committee relied largely on money raised at one year’s event to fund the next.

When the fair was successful, it was self-funding with a large proportion of income coming from stallholders.

But lack of enthusiasm for the event – and fewer stalls – gave the committee less money with which to lay on entertainment.

Mr Brown said the fair could be reinstated in future years, if the public wanted it, and if extra finance can be found.

Peter Lewis, chairman of the fair committee from 1981 to 1982 and member into the 1990s, said the crowd puller had served its purpose.

Mr Lewis, whose father was the event’s founding chairman in 1969, said: “It is obviously sad, but we have got to bear in mind in 1969 when the fair started it was an off-peak tourist event, it was the last week in June – historically a very quiet time for Alnwick.

“Now we have got tourists throughout the year, it has served its purpose.”

Mr Lewis said the fair had also allowed Alnwick to form twinning agreements with towns in Norway and Germany.

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History

ALNWICK Fair was first held in the town’s Market Place at the end of June, 1969.

Its traditional line up would see people from all walks of life line the streets in costume to watch the opening Sunday procession which was led by the Fair Queen, the Fair Princess, the Fair Queen Mum, the Bellman and the Junior Bellman.

Throughout the week-long event crowds would come into the town centre to watch the Militia ducking wenches and to buy from the array of stalls.

Entertainment and games, including a strong man competition, would also take place in Alnwick’s pubs.

But over the years, the fair’s popularity waned.

In 2004, organisers took the decision to move to a five-day event.

And last year, the Fair Queen, Fair Princess, Bellman and Junior Bellman were all axed from the line up.

Now, for the first time in almost 40 years June will pass in Alnwick without a fair, although what happens to the event in future remains to be seen.

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Views divided on need for closure

ALNWICK Fair’s demise was greeted with a mixture of sadness and apathy on the town’s streets yesterday.

And suggestions that the event received little community support divided local people.

Rob Mallaburn, 39, a director of his own building firm who lives at Windsor Gardens, Alnwick, said: "My mother was one of the founding people that started it and I think it is a shame. I think they should have put as much effort into the fair as the music festival.

"When the music festival started that started off quite quiet for a lot of years, then they pushed that more than the fair."

Brian Flatman, 45, of King Edward Street, Amble, said the community did support the fair and he was not aware that the event had attracted criticism.

"We have come every year since I was a child. It is like the music festival – it is part of Alnwick. People come from all over the country." Elizabeth Williams, 54, who works in admin and lives near Wooler, said: "It should not be cancelled. To me it is part of the character of Alnwick.

"It is like most things, a lot of these little places, towns and villages, customs have gone because nobody takes part. It is part of Alnwick’s heritage and it is up to the youngsters to get involved and if they involve them maybe it will continue."

Teaching assistant Katherine Watson, 43, of Allerburn Lea, Alnwick, said: "I have only lived here a couple of years, we have sometimes been up in the past. It did used to be really good about 10 years ago, they used to have it all on the Cobbles, they were dressed in their medieval outfits, and then I moved here a couple of years ago, I realised it had died a death."

Julie Case, 35, of Tyelaw Meadow, Shilbottle, who works for Alnwick District Council, said: "We have always found something better to do. It is probably due to a general lack of interest. They have not evolved it, as life has moved on, it has not evolved."