AS THE nation prepares to celebrate the Queen's accession, another 50th anniversary is passing unnoticed except by travelling show people.

This showman's living van was built in 1952 and is still going strong in the caring hands of its present owner, Billy Smith, who was born five years earlier.

The light blue van stands out like a historical beacon among the small army of modern vehicles parked up at the town and village venues visited by 57-year-old Mr Smith and his local colleagues in the Showmen's Guild.

With its clerestory roof reminiscent of an old-style railway carriage, its cut glass windows decorated with ornate patterns and its roomy interior, generously panelled with shining mahogany, it represents a nostalgic home-from-home on four wheels.

Visitors climbing inside the van, which will be seen at fun fairs all over North Yorkshire and County Durham in the coming months, could be forgiven for thinking they have boarded a transatlantic liner not far removed from the Titanic.

Flowers stand in vases, mirrors twinkle and the craftsmanship of an earlier generation of woodworkers is evident wherever the eye falls.

Mr Smith is so fond of the van that he lives in it all year round, parking it for the winter at his base at Normanby, Middlesbrough.

The van, the framework of which contains a mixture of wood and aluminium, was made by William Brayshaw, a well-known manufacturer of caravans and stalls at Yeadon, Leeds.

It was believed to have been made originally for a man in Lancashire, and before Mr Smith got it 17 years ago it belonged to Jimmy Southwood, a member of the Yorkshire section of the Showmen's Guild.

Mr Smith said: "It had been parked up for ten years at Castleford because it had only been lived in during the winter, but when I got it it only needed painting, tidying up and the woodwork inside re-polishing."

Mr Smith, who travelled as a young boy with two aunts who were show people and has been on the road since 1968, added: "The van is fully self-contained and has everything I need, including solid fuel and gas cooking.

"It is one of the last of the old-style showman's living vans and will take four people. Because it is higher off the ground it is very warm to be in.

"It will probably see my life out unless there is a drastic change in travelling. I just love coupling it up to my lorry and going to different towns and villages. It's been my way of life for so long now."