The Govan Fair Procession, 1955.
The celebration of the Govan Fair may have begun at the end of the 15th century. The Govan Weavers' Society revived the festival in 1757 and it continued until 1881. Members of the Old Govan Club revived the Fair once more in 1920. By the 1950s the celebration consisted of a parade of floats sponsored and decorated by local businesses and led through the streets by the Govan Burgh Band. Before the parade set off, the Govan Weavers' Society (who had dined the previous evening on their traditional meal of boiled eggs washed down with whisky) marched down the main street wearing their sashes, aprons and chains of office and bearing aloft the famous sheep's head.
In 1955 Partick Camera Club set out to create a photographic survey of Glasgow. As the project progressed, other camera clubs joined and each was allocated a district of the city to photograph. Glasgow Museums exhibited the photographs at Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum and at the People's Place, and in 1956 the exhibition was shown at the Palace of Art in Bellahouston Park. The photographs are now part of Glasgow Museums' collections.
Reference: 1005-97-1 / OG.1955.121.[1]
Reproduced with the permission of Partick Camera Club / Glasgow Museums
Keywords:
crowds, floats, Glasgow Photographic Survey 1955, Govan Burgh Band, Govan Old Fair, Govan Weavers' Society, lorries, Old Govan Club, parades, processions, tenements
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