Hatwells Fun Fair (Established 1840)
Biography
The Hatwell family have a long history operating fairgrounds in the Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire area, having established their fairground business in 1840. The Hatwell family has its roots in Oxfordshire and before they became travelling showmen they were stone masons.
In the twentieth and twenty first centuries, the family have several separate fairground businesses led by different descendants from the family, including Hatwell Brothers, who present rides for adults and children as well as catering stalls. Perry Hatwell who operates Perry Hatwell’s Funfairs around Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire and present the Electric Dreams Waltzer, Twister and Dodgems and veteran showman and fairground artist John Hatwell, who travels fairs around the Midlands, including Oxford St Giles, Witney Feast, the Mops at Stratford-upon-Avon and Tewkesbury Scuttlebrook, and the Wake at the Cotswold town of Chipping Campden. Over the years, he has operated a variety of equipment, mainly small juvenile rides, many of which were acquired by his father in the 1930s and later passed onto him.
Found in 3 Collections and/or Records:
Chris Russell Collection
This collection contains five boxes of original photographic material including negatives and slides, a small amount of fairground journals, newspaper cuttings, correspondence, six audio tapes and a small amount of posters and handbills all related to the fairground and steam rally events.
Hatwells Fun Fair Poster, Tuesday 15 - Saturday 19 July c1986
Didcot, Edmuns Park. Black type on fluorescent orange background.
Posters, c1980 - 1994
Fairground, circus and steam engine rally posters collected by Chris Russell.