Vintage fairground museum closes for final time

The trust said the vintage fairground collection will be moved to a new museum in Staffordshire

A museum that housed the national fairground collection is closing for the final time this weekend.

The Fairground Heritage Trust announced in March the Dingles Fairground Museum in Lifton, on the Devon and Cornwall border, would close in the October half-term.

Trustee Guy Belshaw said there were "a large number of factors" for the closure and the Covid-19 pandemic had been "terrible" for the attraction.

The collection of operational fairground rides will be moved to a new museum in Staffordshire.

Trustee Guy Belshaw said the pandemic had cost the museum tens of thousands of pounds

Mr Belshaw said: "The pandemic was terrible for us, we lost tens of thousands of pounds and the costs have just run away with us.

"It's also the fact that we're in a very remote location here and it needs to be more accessible to people, really."

Brian Kneebone has volunteered at the museum for 17 years.

He said: "It's great that it's been preserved and it's good to think that now it's closing here, it's going to another park as a whole."

One of the rarer pieces in the collection is the Shaw's Moon-Rocket, a space-themed ride which was designed in Germany but built in the UK in the 1930s under licence.

Mr Belshaw said "this is the only one in working condition that has survived".

All tickets for the final opening days on Friday and Saturday have already been sold.