The Showmen’s Guild recently attended the Local Government Association annual convention of 1600 local, regional and county councillors, who run the administration of the country including our Fairs.
This follows our initial meeting last November with the LGA’s Chair of Culture & Sport to discuss the high cost of rents and developing a better dialogue with them.
The three day Convention consisted of a series of formal addresses in the main auditorium; delegate groupings meetings; fringe meetings and sessions in the ‘Innovation Zone’.
This was very popular championing specific chosen council-led projects of achievement located alongside the Exhibition of businesses and interest-groups.
There were associated official events each evening.
We had a well-rehearsed presentation to communicate our message to the 1600 LGA delegates and with sub-groups of Councillors and councils; so that we were able to have one conversation to each grouping, covering many hundred members then leaving them with manageable yet engaging material.
The information that we presented in a concise dossier, included
- The bid for UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage that we are pursuing this year with the DCMS in Westminster and for which we are looking for local government’s cost-free support;
- Pointing out the scale of the industry with 4,000 members and 2800 fairs annually right across the country;
- The concern that the Showmen’s Guild spends £75 million on rent with councils an eye-opener and attention-grabbing announcement , whenever referred to, with the budget-conscious councillor and officers’ audience
- Our success in reaching hard to engage-with and ‘culturally under-nourished’ audiences, which Councillors and officers routinely struggle to reach themselves;
- Our success in boosting Active Lives, as focused on by Sport England in numerous and recent reports; again something the councils themselves struggle to do and thus, in our doing so, we save countless sick-days -off that costs so much in each locality.
- We explained the highly organised the structure of the Guild with its regional Sections and with the Quasi-Judicial Process; as well as our work with ADIPS; HSE; Planning Authorities and others; with details spelled-out in the information pack.
So what was the result?
Within structure of the Convention’s; the reaction was overwhelmingly positive.
We were able to alter perceptions of our Industry with a concise chat and to highlight the Showmen’s Guild ‘s Trade Association position, at the centre of the industry.
This was boosted overall by giving out copies of the World’s Fair, boosting the status of the industry and its scale, drawing favourable comparisons with Local Government publications.
Our “ask” of the delegates, instead of lower rents, given council’s current financial circumstances,; was to encourage Councils’ support for our ‘Intangible Cultural Heritage’ status bid for our fairs; so that we could work together lobbying government on:
- “teching-up” parks and town squares with mains-power and
- other upgraded sustainable and Net-Zero facilities
- for everyone’s benefit year-round, including a wider agenda of community event stakeholders.
There are now plans to continue the dialogue at all levels next year; with active involvement from Sections and members; ahead of next year’s Convention in July in Liverpool.