New Preston Guild officer to be recruited

The hunt will begin within months for the person who will spearhead preparations for the next Preston Guild – even though the event itself is another six years away.

The once-in-20-year city celebration comes around again in 2032 – and Preston City Council has now started drawing up the job description for what it says will be a “unique position”.

The authority agreed 12 months ago to begin gearing up for the Guild – which dates back 800 years – sooner than it would otherwise have done, because of a huge shake-up on the horizon for local government in Lancashire.

The changes mean that Preston City Council will be wiped from the map in 2028 – along with the county’s 14 other main local authorities.   They will be replaced by new standalone councils covering much larger areas than the districts and boroughs that are set to bite the dust.

It means there will be no authority solely dedicated to Preston – and, against that backdrop, the current city council moved to ensure that plans for the festival would be well under way by the time of its demise.

As part of that process, it established its usual Guild committee to oversee the lead-up to the jamboree – but across a seven-year timespan rather than the usual four or five.

A meeting of that group at the town hall this week discussed the new job role, but the Local Democracy Reporting Service has been told the exact criteria for the appointment are yet to be finalised.

In a statement issued after the cross-party gathering, a city council spokesperson said: “We are looking to appoint a Preston Guild Officer to begin the process of preparing for the 2032 Guild celebrations. There is some initial internal work needed to agree the job specification for such a unique position.

“It will be externally recruited, with details being released over the coming months, so we will keep you posted on this exciting opportunity.”

The LDRS understands that the cost of the officer will be covered by the city council’s Guild reserve fund

In 2023/24, the authority began setting aside a cumulative half a percent from council tax each year to help deliver the 2032 event – meaning almost a decade of contributions will be generated.   However, from 2028, that arrangement will depend on it being continued by whatever council is established to cover the Preston area after the city council is scrapped.

When the authority approved its budget for the current financial year last month, it was agreed that a further £500k would be added to the Guild reserve in 2026/27, with plans to pump in the same amount in each of the next two years.

The total bill for the 10-day Guild programme back in 2012 came in at £5.4m – although a substantially larger sum is expected to be required in 2032.  Part of the expense is usually covered by grants, sponsorship and revenue from merchandise.

The first Preston Guild can be traced back to 1179 following King Henry II’s decision to draw up a royal charter for the city and award it with the right to have a Guild Merchant.

The events became once-in-two-decade affairs from 1542 onwards and have been staged rigidly to that timetable ever since – save for a war-enforced absence in 1942. That year’s Guild was eventually held a decade late, before returning to the usual pattern.

The Guild was an organisation of traders, craftsmen and merchants, all of whom had a monopoly on trade in the town. Only members of the organisation could conduct business locally and any newcomers could only ply their trade once they had its permission.

Gatherings for renewing membership were always infrequent and it was ultimately decided that they were required only once in a generation – resulting in the regularisation of the event once every 20 years.

Its rarity and the large number of people drawn to Preston for the occasion made the Guild a special moment and led to it being marked by processions and feasts, including a mayoral banquet and other entertainment for the great and good.

Freedom to trade in Preston without Guild membership came about in 1790, but even as the reason for the Guild gatherings passed into the city’s history, the event itself did not – and it is a tradition that generations of Prestonians have ensured persists to this day.