This Gypsy, Roma, Traveller History Month, as part of events around Buckinghamshire libraries, I am reading my book My Wonderful Place. I wrote it many years ago about a child’s journey to Appleby Fair and it includes a dedication to my Dad because I know Appleby Fair was his favourite place.
I have a lifetime of memories of the fair and what it means to my own family. It’s a representation of our culture and community like no other, of our history and traditions – where we can be who we are. It’s a legacy that I feel I have responsibility to pass on to my own children and grandchildren. 
It’s one of the few fairs we have left and we need to ensure its future. But it seems that the authorities and police are trying to control and censor every aspect of it. Every year there seems an increase in involvement and scrutiny.
Appleby is almost 400 miles from where I live yet we make that long journey every year because we recognise the fair’s significance, the coming together of our communities and families from across the UK and we want to be part of that.
It’s hard to sum up the importance of the sight of relatives arriving in beautiful bow-top wagons, the sound of horses and traps speeding along the flash, or the sense of wholeness as you reconnect with family in the field you played in together as children a generation ago. This is much more than nostalgia. It’s an anchor and a living expression of identity.
After returning from this year’s Fair, like many others I’m left with increasing concern weighing against the sense of pride and community I feel. New restrictions, scrutiny and negativity play into wider context of prejudice and racism that we face. Appleby Fair should be the last place that our families feel this.
A large part of this is down to the way the event is policed. I do believe that the police have a role – with an event of this size and importance, safety matters for everyone. But the policing increasingly feels disproportionate to the event, and more often shaped by preiudiced assumptions that need to be challenged. The shift became personal for me last year. A brief interaction with a police officer who was abrupt and unnecessarily rude left me wondering whether this tone was down to the individual officer’s own attitude, or encouraged from the onset to prevent objections. Either way, it’s hardly a constructive way to facilitate a safe event and foster good community relations, let alone a warm welcome.
This year, the scale and visibility of policing was striking. Police seemed to outnumber the attendees for the first day or so. There were multiple police vans, and continuous patrols and surveillance were conducted prior to the fair and while people were waiting for the fields to be opened on Thursday morning. Reports and videos circulated of road blocks and vehicle searches as people made their way to the fair.
Social media posts about recovered stolen goods, continuous advice to report concerns and incidents and unbalanced articles focusing on the number of arrests are not helpful. They create division and fuel discrimination. Of course, there is a need for transparency over policing and outcomes, but posts designed to provide reassurance to those who are already against the fair bring a heavy price. Visibility of understanding and respect for an important, centuries-old cultural tradition would be more valuable than visibility of enforcement.
The introduction of police facial recognition vans this year added another layer of surveillance. My feelings about this are mixed. A lot was made of their presence beforehand, and many will feel that alongside everything else, it reinforces a perception of criminality overall – both for us as a community and Appleby Fair as an event. But, in all honesty, once you are there it becomes more about enjoying the experience and making the most of your time there and the things that you see.
A huge amount of unseen work goes into organising the fair. The task is even more difficult with the backdrop of everything I’ve mentioned and other shifts in our society. People from our community work hard all year round and collaborate with authorities and agencies to organise the fair and protect its legacy for generations to come. It’s up to all of us fair-goers and our wider community to support them and share that responsibility with them.
Every year I see the same blatant racism and bigotry directed towards the fair and the people who attend. Every year the same people say the same things, the same newspapers publish the same stories and push the same discriminatory narrative.
But this is not the Appleby I know and I don’t feel it’s fair that it’s portrayed in this way. Appleby Fair is in my blood and I will never miss it. I have been going since I was a child and I intend to go for as long as I live!
