Circus Comes to Town: Carnival Days at Boldon

A Wild West Show, big cats and little clowns lure South Shields folk to Billy Smarts Circus and juvenile jazz bands play for the crowds and carnival queen at Boldon.

There’s a glorious promise of circus sawdust, glitter and adventure on the murky streets of South Shields in May as Billy Smarts arrives with a pistol-packing Wild West Show, clown posse and exotic menagerie of decorated zebras, elephants, camels and Highland cattle. In the pit villages of Boldon a carnival showcases a magnificent parade of North East juvenile jazz bands and the mock wedding of a colliery king and queen.