Lol Bishton gives an insight into an incredible vocation
Showman Lawrence Bishton pictured with the carousel horse once ridden by Princess Diana.(Image: Joseph Raynor/ Reach PLC)
It’s a unique way of life for the showmen and women operating the rides and stalls at Nottingham’s Goose Fair, who are often away from home for lengthy stints of time as they travel the length and breadth of not just the UK but Europe.
Lawrence Bishton, known as Lol, was born into a showman’s family in 1952 and has spent more than seven decades going from site to site with his rides, not just at fairgrounds but attending royal birthday parties, a special event at the location of Downton Abbey, and the wedding of Elon Musk’s ex-wife.
He’s not sure how many generations of his family have been in the business — although the first record is a receipt dated 1870 for a roundabout on Chesterfield Market.
Just like his grandfather Henry and his father Lawrence before him, he’s a regular at Goose Fair, with two carousels, a cakewalk, helter skelter and a couple of children’s rides.
His family moved from Yorkshire to Nottingham, settling in Hyson Green, where they purchased a piece of land in Bedford Square, to store the rides.
Lol, 74, said: “Through World War Two they took them off my family to use them as a blockade on the roads because they expected the invasion. The trailers were turned over with the rides on them, so they were wrecked. The galloping horses, cakewalk and old-time rides got smashed up.
“They gave my grandmother £200 compensation after the war but there was nothing to buy. After the war, the land at Bedford Square was bought by compulsory purchase to build houses.”
The family moved the storage operation to Dunkirk after buying fairground games and swing boats.
Lol’s first visits to the fair was as a baby. The families don’t have babysitters while they’re working so their babies were — and still are — often at the back of their stalls, many in Silver Cross prams.
“I don’t think we could afford a Silver Cross pram at the time. I was probably in a barrow,” said Lol, who was looked after by his mum Irene while she ran the coconut stall or hook a duck.
It wasn’t long before he was helping to run the rides himself but he soon learnt the hard way, at the age of eight, about health and safety. “I nearly got scalped. I was ducking under one swing boat to the next and forgot the other one was swinging. I think my brains fell out then.
“They took me to hospital, I had some tape put on it and was told I’d be all right in a few days.”
Mainstream schooling was intermittent. Lol attended Dunkirk Primary School after Goose Fair was over until Easter and then was on the road, travelling from fairground to fairground.
He still managed to pass his 11+ and could have attended Mundella Grammar School but instead decided to go to Cottesmore School with the rest of his primary school mates. Nowadays a lot of the showmen’s children are educated online while on the road.
Travelling was never lonely. “Most of the villages we went to at that time, we knew the kids and grew up with them and they’d come down so you’d always have friends,” he said.
By the 1970s Lol’s family had acquired a carousel, speedway, waltzers, dodgems, children’s rides and a cakewalk to replace the one smashed during the war. It is the only Goose Fair attraction still in existence from the days in Old Market Square before relocating to Forest Recreation Ground in 1928.
His family moved to Jacksdale, where he he lived with his three brothers and two sisters, who all became involved in the family business apart from one brother who ended up a lorry driver.
Lol, who is vice-chairman of the Notts and Derbyshire Showmen’s Guild, attends all the traditional fairs — locally Wollaton Park, Newstead Abbey, Goose Fair, Ilkeston and Winter Wonderland in Old Market Square and further afield – Sheffield, Worcester and The Hoppings in Newcastle.
The born showman’s job has taken him to some incredible places — once having to sign the Official Secrets Act when providing a carousel at Windsor Castle for the Duke of Edinburgh’s birthday.
Another royal event took him to the birthday party of one of the daughters of Andrew, years before the disgraced prince lost his title amidst the Jeffrey Epstein scandal.
“Fergie was there and the Big Yin, Billy Connolly. We didn’t know Princess Diana was going to be there, she rolled up in a little sports car. She had two or three rides on the gallopers. Afterwards we painted the one she sat on ‘HRH Diana’.”
Another memorable occasion was operating the fairground ride at the wedding of Elon Musk’s ex-wife Talulah Riley to Thomas Brodie-Sangster in Hertfordshire. Musk, the richest man in the world, was there, said Lol, adding: “Before some events they won’t tell you what it is, just a special party.”
Just a few weeks before Goose Fair, Lol took a carousel to Highclere Castle in Hampshire — the location of period drama Downton Abbey — for its 1920s Magic of the Movies party.
His vocation has taken him to fairs and events across Europe — Belgium, Germany, France, Holland and Greece. The trips to Athens, were quite something.
Located slap bang in the middle of Syntagma Square overlooking the Hellenic Parliament, the response on the first day was overwhelming with people removing the perimeter fence so they could get on the ride.
“We had three on every horse and standing in-between. I daren’t move it. There were about 200 people on it — it holds 70. Eventually we got the police, who got them off.
“We got it down to a sensible number but sent it round that slow as we were frightened to death.”
By the next day the fence panels had been welded together so there was no chance of the crowd running amok. Between 10am and 10pm, it attracted around 10,000 riders a day.
The next year, there were two carousels and, over the course of the 10 years they attended, the number rose to five spread out around the Greek capital.
“We took them on a trailer driving and then by boat. We drove down to south of France, over the Alps through Italy and got on a boat at the end. After a 23-hour crossing we drove up through Greece. We could do it in three days. It was enjoyable.”
As well as assembling and dismantling rides, the showmen have to deal with the mechanics and maintenance, generators, and lighting systems.
Lol went one step further, completely rebuilding a 99-year-old carousel, bought in Ireland. “A tree had gone through the middle of it,” he said.
His latest acquisition is an old steam engine, which he has restored to its former glory after seeing it on Facebook Marketplace. “I bought it in pieces. I was hoping to bring it here to power the cakewalk but there’s not enough room. The back wheel is taller than me,” he said.
While his rides are the more traditional kind, he is in awe of the new white-knuckle rides wowing visitors at Goose Fair such as Skyfall, the world’s highest travelling drop tower, and Elevate 85, the tallest ride ever at 280ft to attend.
Lol said: “The new ones are marvellous. It’s millions of pounds worth of stuff. I take my hat off to anyone who wants to go and pay that much. This is why you’ve got to have 10-day fairs because you have to take enough money to warrant it being there. In other countries they have a month.”
The grandfather-of-five is married to Elaine, the daughter of a showman, and they had four children but two tragically died in separate road accidents.
Their 17-year-old daughter, Racheal Ann, was in a fatal accident in 1993 and 16 years ago son Brandon, 30, was killed in a motorway crash, along with another showman, after their pick-up truck broke down. A lorry driver ploughed into them after they stopped on the hard shoulder.
Daughters Kelly and Dione and their husbands Brett and John are all involved in the fairground world, along with Brandon’s widow Crystal and their girls Jayda and Chloe.
Granddaughter Elsie and grandson Cutler are the latest generation to join the family business, while young John at three has a few more years to go.
As fulfilling as his life has been, there was discrimination growing up. Lol said: “People used to look down on showmen. It’s just a different way of life. I used to be called a gypsy at school because we lived in caravans and travelled the country throughout the summer months.”
Although he has a small caravan on the Goose Fair site, he goes back to his home in Selston every night. “I used to be away from home three or four months of the year but I’ve always felt I’ve had roots. Home was home and it was in Nottingham.
“It has been a fruitful life. I might retire in about 10 years time. They’ve told me you can’t retire. They say if you retire you’ll die because you’re not doing any work. If you stop work you end up going to seed. I love doing different things every day.”
Another Goose Fair showman Sheldon Chadwick, aged 33, is seventh the generation of his family. As well as attending the fair he is just weeks away from finishing his PhD about showmen, art and wellbeing.
The Salford-born showman, and founder of the Showmen’s Mental Health Awareness Charity, said: “My family have been coming to Goose Fair for centuries.
“I feel very lucky to have the upbringing I did and the education I had. I went to a mainstream school around 70 percent of the time and I travelled with my family the rest of the time. I was fortunate that we had travelling teachers who came with us,” added Sheldon, who recited two poems he’d written at the official opening ceremony.
“We’re a very close community. We are one big family and it can be the most wonderful and enjoyable relationship, meeting new people, and going to new places, and just experiencing a new culture. But then equally, at times, it can be really challenging because showmen do face discrimination.
“Life can be tough. We are very resilient. Fundamentally if the sun shines, we have a good day, if it rains, we have a bad day.”
Together with photographer Jo Metson Scott, Sheldon’s poetry forms part of a new exhibition at Nottingham Castle. A Fair Story: A contemporary exploration of travelling showmen gives a rare glimpse behind the lights, music and excitement of Goose Fair.
It is the result of a 10-year project that looks at the lives, traditions and resilience of travelling showmen, celebrating their cultural heritage, innovation and family-centred way of life while addressing prejudice and highlighting their enduring contribution to British fairground culture.
It can be seen until January 10, 2027.
