Members' Business: The Showmen’s Guild of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

That the Parliament joins the Showmen’s Guild of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in celebrating its 130th anniversary; understands that the Guild was founded as the United Kingdom Van Dwellers Protection Association in 1889 in Salford; believes that its formation was a key moment in the recognition of showmen having a lifestyle that is a culture rather than an occupation, leading to the idea of travelling showmen being recognised as a cultural group; understands that the principal objective of the Guild has remained the same since its inception, which is to protect the interests of its members, travelling showmen who gain their livelihoods by attending funfairs; notes that it does so both through its code of rules for members and by using the legal and constitutional processes that exist; congratulates Philip Paris, who has become the first Scot to be named as the President of the Guild since Jack Cullis in the 1950s, and thanks showmen across Scotland, including in the Uddingston and Bellshill constituency, and the rest of the UK, on their contribution to, and the significant and important part that they play, in public life.