Unfair at the fair

Tens of thousands of Gypsies, Travellers and tourists have visited Europe's largest Gypsy horse fair, reports Jake Bowers from Appleby in Cumbria

Sizzling summer temperatures have brought tens of thousands of visitors to the biggest Gypsy horse fair in Britain. From the Eden river to Fair Hill crowds have bought, sold, drank and chatted in beautiful sunshine. Hundreds of Gypsy cobs have made the journey from Fair Hill into Appleby town centre to be washed in the rivers cooling waters. No major public order incidents have been reported, but the Gypsy and Traveller community has expressed dismay of the closure of pubs in the town.

Fair organiser Billy Welch is part of the management group that oversees the fair and has been largely happy with the way the fair has been managed, but says the police may have influenced pubs in the town to close. "The management of the fair sometimes calls for difficult decisions," he said. "Such as the decision to restrict camping around Appleby in the run up to the fair. But it was right to do so because nothing threatens the future of this fair like anti-social behaviour."

But Welch and many Gypsies and Travellers are not happy about the closure of many of the pubs in town during fair week, which runs from June 3rd to 9th. "We're looking into what happened." says Welch. "Because the way some of the police have been talking to our people is wrong and our people must have more respect."

The public agencies who worked together to organise the operational planning for Appleby Horse Fair have reported that fewer incidents and arrests occurred at the annual event.

Fifty fewer people were arrested during this year’s Fair, down from 110 in 2009 to 60 in 2010. 

The Multi Agency Strategic Co-Ordinating Group (MASCG) which co-ordinates the work of the key public agencies overseeing the event, has been keen to return the Fair to its traditional origins after it has swelled in size in recent years.

Kevin Douglas, Chief Executive of Eden District Council and Chair of the Appleby Fair MASCG, said: “The hard work put into the pre-event planning process for the Horse Fair with arrangements for temporary stopping places worked very well in both Eden and South Lakeland. The new arrangements for traffic flow benefitted both the local community and visitors.

 “There have been issues regarding the licensing arrangements for the Fair and a lot of this was out of MASCG control, but this will be a priority area for us to address when planning starts again for the 2011 Fair next month. The group will be producing its Evaluation Report and everyone is asked to feed into this process through the public meetings being held in Eden and South Lakeland or via the feedback forms available from www. applebyfair.org, Appleby Tourist Information Centre, Library or Post Office.”

Public meetings about the management of the fair will be as follows:

• Wednesday 16 June – Garsdale Village Hall – Sedbergh and Kirkby Lonsdale Neighbourhood Forum 7.30pm start.

• Wednesday 23 June - Sedbergh Peoples Home - Horse Fair Drop in Session 5pm-7pm.

• Thursday 8 July - Appleby Public Hall - Drop in sessions and then a public meeting (times to be confirmed).