PLANS to create a fairground museum in a West Devon village took a major step forward this week, after the project scooped a Heritage Lottery Fund grant. The Fairground Heritage Trust, based at Dingles Steam Village near Lifton, has secured a £49,800 project planning grant. The money will be used to appoint a project planning officer and commission consultants? reports on conservation management, access planning and audience development ? the results will be used by the trust to bid for a full scale £1-million heritage grant from the HLF. Guy Belshaw, spokesman for the trust, said everyone involved with the project was delighted with the grant. Mr Belshaw said: ?It?s taken 20 years and a lot of false starts to get this off the ground but it?s coming together at last. ?Once it?s up and running we see it as a major attraction for the gateway into Cornwall.? Mr Belshaw said the trust believed its unique collection of traditional fairground rides was not only culturally important in terms of social heritage, but had a ?wide and far ranging appeal? as an interactive museum experience. Last year, following a grant from Defra?s rural enterprise scheme, the trust started work on the 25,000 sq ft building which will ultimately house its fascinating collection of vintage fairground rides, stalls, shows, art work, models and fairground transport. Mr Belshaw said: ?The gallery is actually up and constructed now and some of the major exhibits that have been in store in other parts of the country have been delivered to the site ? hopefully by next year we will be able to launch it as a full scale interactive museum.? The star attraction will be the Rodeo Switchback, the only surviving example of a ride which thrilled fairgoers as long ago as 1880. The trust has many other historic rides from the 1930s and 40s, including a ghost train, an ornate dodgem, the Super Chariot Racer Ark and the Palace of Pleasure Penny Slots Arcade, with working machines from the 1950s. Mr Belshaw said the museum will also have an educational area with a photographic area and library ? the trust was working closely with the county?s education department to develop this side of the attraction. Visitors to Dingles Steam Village will have an opportunity to view the huge range of fairground artefacts at a Vintage Fairground Weekend on May 20 and 21. Dingles Steam Village will be open for the summer on Mondays to Thursdays, 10.30am until 5.30pm from May 22.
