Stunning Photos of Vintage Fairground Signs by Fred Fowle

Previously unpublished photos and film about legendary fairground artist and signwriter, Fred Fowle.

Detail of hand-painted and gilded fairground ride.
Super Sonic Swirl at Dingles. Photo: John Bodkin / Eye.

We are currently in the process of filming the sequel to When Better Letters Met Cliff Headford. The next in this series of short films about retired signwriters will profile Stan Wilkinson, who had Carter’s Steam Fair among his clients from the early 1980s until he officially shut up shop in 2002.

Stan was recently swinging his brush again at the fair having been brought in for a large-scale restoration project being undertaken by Joby Carter and the team. Talking to film-maker Adrian Harrison and Carter’s signwriter Aaron Stephens, the topic of Fred Fowle came up.