Alfred Guilford
Alfred “Kitty” Guilford – John Bull
The earliest known regular Carnival character, he appeared throughout the 1920s always attired as John Bull – by all accounts a very popular person and, in his retirement years, a prolific collector of funds for Savernake Hospital via Carnival.
Born at New Mill in 1865 into a large family of 13 children, he started work aged just 8yrs old earning one shilling (5p) a week as a bird scarer; within 5 years he was to become an orphan. Yet, by dint of sheer hard work and determination this steadfast man overcame many obstacles to eventually become a big farmer of some 650 acres in the Vale.
