Paddington 2 fairground ride joins museum

A 130-year-old fairground ride that has appeared in feature films will be the newest addition to a historical funfair within the Black Country Living Museum.

The museum's resident fairground will be home to the "bright and colourful" Jubilee Steam Gallopers from Saturday.

The ride, built by Tidmans of Norwich in 1895, consists of 30 wooden horses and two chariots with bench seats.

The ride has appeared in TV and film productions including Paddington 2, Call the Midwife, Rocketman, and The Theory of Everything.

Alex Hyman, who owns, conserves and operates the independently run fair within the museum, is the ride's ninth and latest owner.

The carousel was once part of Carters Steam Fair, a travelling vintage fair in England, founded in 1977 by John Carter.

Mr Hyman has acquired a "significant" amount of Carters' collection, which stopped touring in 2024.

He said: "We are very proud to have kept a large proportion of the original Carters steam fair collection together."

Acquired in February from Joby Carter of Carters Steam Fair, the carousel comes with a mechanical Gavioli music organ.

Mr Carter said: "As much as you can love an inanimate object, I love this ride, and I always will.

"It's the last ride I sold because it needed to go to the right home. This one wasn't about money, it was about trying to get it to the right owner."

All proceeds raised by the fairground go directly into restoring and collecting historical rides, sideshows and games, said the museum.

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