This weekend, the award-winning Carters Steam Fair will visit West Wycombe with their famous vintage funfair.
The funfair, held in Pedestal Field, includes over 70 years of traditional British fairground rides with free entry on both Saturday and Sunday.
The rides and attractions date from the 1890s to the 1960s and have all been restored using these traditional signwriting techniques.
They have featured in films and TV shows such as Paddington 2, Rocketman and Worzel Gummidge.
This will be the last time that Carters Steam Fair visit West Wycombe as they look for a permanent home.
There will also be a free fireworks display on Saturday night at 9.30pm as they celebrate the final fair.
Fairground owner Joby Carter said: “Our collection of vintage travelling fairground rides is the largest in the world.
"There’s nowhere else that you’ll see as much traditional fairground art in once place.
"I encourage anyone visiting to take a close look at the lettering and artwork at the fair- it has all been done by hand using traditional signwriting skills and techniques – no computers or fancy software programmes!
"Stand next to our brightly coloured trucks with huge lettering over 1 meter high and see if you can figure out how we manage to paint it all by hand.
"Over the years we’ve been touring the fair I estimate that we’ve spent over £250,000 on gold leaf alone.
"We love it when we see our visitors appreciating the effort we take to keep the fair looking so good – please take photos and tag us on social media!
Alongside the funfair, there will be a signwriting festival celebrating hand-painted letters, which over the last few decades has been under pressure due to the rise of computers and the increase in use of plastic.
The festival begins on Friday and for those wanting to paint tickets costing £30 with all proceeds going to local children’s hospice Alexander Devine.
The charity support children in the local community who have been diagnosed with life threatening and life-limiting conditions.
Fairgoers can see the artists at work and then can then take part in a free charity auction on the Saturday night with items painted at the festival up for grabs.
At the previous event, they raised over £14,000 with hopes to beat that this year.
Joby Carter added: "I was one of the first people to teach signwriting in this country and I have been very prolific in doing so having taught thousands of people with my online courses and my signwriting book.
"Meet ups like the signwriting festival are a really important way of signwriters keeping in contact with one another and inspiring new people to do it.”
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel