Education

School visits

Dingles Fairground Museum is the perfect resource to take learning out of the classroom. We have a unique collection of fairground stories, objects and working rides to provide a hands-on educational experience.

We offer a range of workshops and outreach sessions and can also supply self guided learning resources. All of our sessions utilise our collections and we have a dedicated learning space. We are happy to work with students who have additional needs, and can talk to you about quieter times to visit and more ‘relaxed’ days to accommodate your needs.

For further information, please contact curator@fairground-heritage.org.uk or call 01566 783425

Primary Schools

We run a series of on-site sessions built around what teachers tell us they need to deliver the National Curriculum. We provide high quality cross-curricular workshops, covering subjects such as STEM, History, and Art. We are happy to create a session bespoke to your needs – for example teaching Maths probability with an arcade roulette wheel or looking at historical change by considering life for a child in a Living Wagon!  We are able to accommodate large groups of student visitors in our working spaces.

Secondary schools/Post-16

Given the focused nature of the curriculum, we work with secondary schools and colleges to deliver subject-specific workshops. During our winter period when we are closed to the public, we can offer a unique opportunity into exploring the engineering and practical aspects of how fairground rides work. We have a track record of accommodating large  groups of students; this year we have for instance been visited by a whole year 7 cohort as part of an Art Week, and by a GCSE Art and Photography class of 80 students. We have also operated as a theatre venue for a performance  of ‘Macbeth’ as part of the RSC school’s Shakespeare programme.

Colleges and Universities

The museum has substantial experience of working with further education groups, having previously hosted visits relating to fine art, photography, illustration, marketing and fashion and design. We are happy to broaden our scope into other areas such as engineering or science, for example. We have worked with PhD researchers wanting to use the museum as a base to display their work and are happy to facilitate research into our collection and the subject of fairgrounds in Britain. We provide a unique slice into the history of popular culture and social change in the 20th century.

Community/Health and Well-Being

We provide sessions about fairground history to community and special interest groups, who are welcome to visit. We have worked with such diverse groups as Dementia Cafes, retirement social clubs and a ballroom dancing group! We can provide sessions at quieter times of the day, in a dedicated space, and use reminiscence as a means of connecting with our collections. We are committed to enabling people to access our museum and regard ourselves as a family friendly space.

Outreach

We can bring stories and some of our collection to you. We can provide a hands on presentation about fairground art, culture and games..with fairground organ music thrown in! We are happy to undertake outreach visits to schools and community groups. Please feel free to contact us to talk in more detail.

Learning about fairs

The pages linked to this page should help you visualise what the Dingles Fairground Heritage Centre is all about. If you are no great reader there are plenty of pictures to see, but why not take your time and browse through all the fragments of the fairground story presented here?

Elements of everything shown on these pages has a reference point somewhere at the Dingles Fairground Heritage Centre, whether its a wholly preserved ride, a fragment of an old fairground show, a photograph, a document, or a piece of artwork. It is our wish that these pages inspire you enough to come and see the work we do and allow yourself, for a few hours at least, to immerse yourself in our world of wonder – something that we believe occupies a significant place in British cultural and social history.

Fairground People