News from the Fairground Heritage Centre
Flog It! visits the Fairground Heritage Centre

Paul Martin and the team visited The Heritage Fairground Centre back in September 2011, and the resulting programme is due for its first showing onTuesday, January 3rd, 2012 on BBC 2 from 3:45pm to 4:30pm.

Fairground Heritage Trust Collection to feature on new BBC website

The Public Catalogue Foundation (PCF), in partnership with the BBC, today announced that all oil paintings in public ownership in Devon, excluding Plymouth and Torbay, have been added to the Your Paintings website for the nation to enjoy. Your Paintings is a project to create a complete online catalogue of every oil painting in the national collection, at www.bbc.co.uk/yourpaintings Paintings by F...rith, Gainsborough, Lawrence, Reynolds and Sickert are among the 2,150 paintings in Devon that can now be seen on Your Paintings. There are 90 collections across the county that are involved in this ground-breaking national project to reveal paintings that are both on display and in store across the country. Major collections such as those at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Burton Art Gallery and Museum and the Britannia Royal Naval College are featured alongside smaller collections including The Fairground Heritage Trust, Tiverton Town Hall and the University of Exeter, Fine Art Collection. Together their paintings provide a unique insight into the history and artistic heritage of Devon. To help the BBC and PCF identify and catalogue what can be seen in each painting, the public is being invited to ‘tag’ the nation’s paintings. Tagging is fun, easy and you don’t need to be an art expert to do it. The results will allow future users of the Your Paintings website to find paintings of subjects that interest them. Your Paintings Tagger is at http://tagger.thepcf.org.uk/

International Fashion Shoot at Devon Fairground Centre

The glamorous world of international fashion came to the Fairground Heritage Centre near Lifton in Devon recently. Supergroup plc, who market, the fashion labels, Superdry, Cult and Vintage Thrift, spent the day and night shooting their spring collection on the dazzling and atmospheric backdrop of the vintage rides.

The Superdry brand is said to "capture elements of both "preppy" and street wear designs with a subtle combination of vintage Americana and Japanese imagery." When a celebrity such as David Beckham, Jude Law or Kate Moss is photographed looking ultra-cool in a Superdry Osaka T-shirt or jacket, it's always a boost to the image. However, even without the extra publicity the company has made an outstanding name for itself by virtue of the art and craft that go into each of their products. Their focus on quality has made Superdry one of the top names in the U.K. fashion industry, and their popularity has gone through the roof this year. The company has over 65 stores worldwide and sells to over 20 countries.

All images (c) James Meigh/Supergroup plc
James Meigh, Head of creative Media and Marketing, said "I was looking for a fairground with a real retro feel to give atmosphere and edge to the photos. This is an amazing place after dark and the colours are really vibrant with thousands of colured lamps giving a soft glow which works really well." Footage for a film documentary about the brand was also shot during the Visit.

Since opening five years ago, the Fairground Centre has hosted film fashion shoots by New Look, Ultimo Lingerie, Republic and provided backdrops and props to M&S and leading fashion magazines. In 2010, the 'What Car?' Car of the year shoot took place at the fairground. The NME Rock & Pop Awards also selected the centre to film music video as has Cornish band 3 daft Monkeys and Devon based The Adventures of...

The Dingles Fairground Heritage Centre is run by The Fairground Heritage Trust, which seeks to preserve the heritage of the traveling fairground. Without doubt the artefacts assembled by the Fairground Heritage Trust represent the single most important collection of fairground-related historic items in the country. The working vintage fairground under cover is open Thursday to Monday until the end of October.

Dingles Fairground Heritage Centre... experience a step back in time
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