The explaination for the name Umbrella Fair is quite simple.

Back in 1990, Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) and Amnesty International all had groups meeting in Northampton. There were a number of people who were part of more than one group, so there was a lot of crossover. None of the groups were big enough to put on an event but collectively they could, so in 1991 a number of members from the groups came together and put on an event. As they were working together under one 'umbrella', they called it the Umbrella Fayre. It was a great success and the collective enjoyed working togther, so a new group was formed - the Umbrella Fair Organisation. To find out how it developed - see 1990-1994.