Mellors Group Events (Established 1890)
Biography
The Mellors family have a long history in the British fairgrounds stretching four generations. Henry Mellors Snr., a farmer from Hyson Green, Nottingham, diversified his business into showmanship by starting to operate a swing boat and a shooting gallery in 1890. His son Henry (Harry) Mellors Jnr. followed up his father’s footsteps into the fairground and by the 1950s he had expanded the business with side stalls, a coconut shy, swings and other children's rides.
Already well established in the fairgrounds, the third generation of the family was led by Henry Jnr’s son, James Mellors Snr, who started to invest in large rides such as The Paratrooper and the Mini Jets from the 1960s onwards. In order to finance his ambitious expansion of the family business, he partnered up with Carlsbro Sound Equipment, a sound company in Nottingham, to supply sound equipment to other showmen throughout the country. From this point the Mellors diversified their business into the supply of entertainments as well as travelling the fairs, and in 1986 James established JEM Amusements to provide Arcades and Bingo Halls.
James Mellor served as Regional Chairman of the Showmen’s Guild of Great Britain for twenty years and received a lifetime achievements award from them in 2001 in recognition of services to the event industry.
The current generation of the Mellors family is led by James Snr’s sons, James Frederick and Edward James.
James Jnr. and Edward joined the family business in the mid-1990s. They spent their early years learning the trade by moving, maintaining and operating rides in the UK. Since then they have greatly helped developed the family company in the UK and abroad, operating over 100 rides globally. In 2019, Mellors Group was awarded a five-year contract by the General Entertainment Authority in Saudi Arabia to create, build and manage the world’s largest touring Theme Park. They have also built a large Water Park on an island off the coast of Jeddah and delivered funfair services for Dubai’s Global Village between 2013 and 2017. Mellors Entertainment LLC continue to have a strong presence in Dubai and the Middle East today and continue to invest in their British based businesses, which include Fantasy Island acquired in 2016, Skegness Pier acquired in 2021 and other UK projects, such as The Beach and Winter Wonderland in Nottingham.
Mellors Group Events have supplied some of the most iconic events in recent British history such as the giant observation wheel in Hyde Park to celebrate the royal wedding in 2011 and the attractions at Victoria Park and every official London Olympic venue in 2012.
In 2020, Mellors Group joined the UK’s Government Taskforce to create a reopening strategy to save the British economy following the Covid-19 pandemic.
Found in 10 Collections and/or Records:
Audio Material, 1993
Copies of interviews with Showmen and women from the Nottingham and Derbyshire Sections of the Showmen's Guild of Great Britain recorded by Neil Calladine.
Business Records, 1889 - 2003
Business records containing minutes of meetings, financial records, documents related to legislation and urban planning, Showmen's Guild diaries, year books, records on the campaigns run by the Showmen on the defence of Mitcham, Norwich, Manchester, Nottingham and Cambridge fairs.
Interview with Henry Mellors, 18 December 1993
Interview recorded by Neil Calladine on two cassette tapes. Copied from a series of interviews with showpeople from the Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Section of the Showmen’s Guild of Great Britain with the permission of Neil Calladine.
Neil Calladine Collection
This collection consists of 6 black and white photographs of fairgrounds and 8 audio cassette recordings of interviews with showpeople from the Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Section of the Showmen's Guild of Great Britain.
Photographic Album, c1950 - 1959
Photographic album containing black and white photographs of fairgrounds, fairground rides, steam engines, living wagons and showpeople, including Silcock, Pat Collins, Morley, Holland and Hibble & Mellor and other locations and showmen with numbers. Photographs taken and collected by Rowland Scott, 28p.p some pages empty.
Photographic Album, 1908 - 1956
Photographic album containing black and white photographs of fairgrounds, fairground rides, fairground organs, steam engines, living wagons, fairground shows, boxing, wall of death and showpeople, including Holland, Farrar, Warren, Ling, Hibble & Mellor, Tuby, Wroot, Marshall and other showmen at Lincoln Fair with notes. Photographs taken and collected by Rowland Scott, 20p.p.
Photographs and Postcards, c1899 - 1969
Photographs, postcards and negatives of fairgrounds taken by Rowland Scott and other fairground enthusiasts.
Records Related to Nottingham Goose Fair, 1928
Contains documents related to the management and defence of Nottingham Goose Fair, including correspondence from William Savage, Pat Collins, E.H. Bostock, John Collins, Mellor Brothers, John Proctor a paper entitled The Defence of Fairs, a case for the opinion of counsel, an floor plan of the fair and newspaper cuttings. Typescript and manuscript.
Rowland Scott Collection
Photographs related to all aspects of British travelling fairgrounds including; rides, transport, living wagons, showpeople, fairground shows, circuses and organs by Rowland Scott and other authors, a selection of manuscripts by Rowland Scott and a small amount of correspondence.
The Showmen's Guild of Great Britain Collection
The main extent of the collection contains yearbooks, meetings and minutes, correspondence and a record of day to day activities within The Showmen's Guild of Great Britain.