The Mitcham Status Fair opened last week in traditional fashion.

The annual event – run by the Showmen’s Guild of Great Britain since the Queen’s coronation in 1953 – was opened on Thursday by Merton’s new mayor Councillor Oonagh Moulton.

She turned the fair’s famous golden key – blessed by the vicar of St Mark’s Church – at a ceremony attended by three generations from the guild.

The traditional fair runs until Sunday, August 21, on Three Kings Piece, Wimbledon Common.