Fairground art

The brightly-coloured paintwork, depicting fantastical scenes of faraway places and larger-than-life characters, was designed to transport fair- goers away from their everyday lives into a world of wonder. Scrolls, fancy calligraphy and gold leaf were all common. The Carters are keen to preserve the art of fairground painting, and still paint everything by hand. The rides are themed. For the Dive Bomber, Anna painted wartime planes. The Steam Yachts have a nautical motif, and on dodgems, it is racing cars and rock ’n’ roll stars. Joby is especially keen on signwriting. “I learned to signwrite when I was 17. I used to look out the window and see all this beautiful lettering. Stan Wilkinson, a phenomenal signwriter who worked for us, taught me, and I’m so glad he did. I use a brush and oil-based signwriting paint. We also use 23.5-carat gold leaf. We have our own preferred colours. There is a certain cream we use, for example.”