Fairground ride restored in 15-year 'labour of love'
A Victorian fairground carousel bought as an "impulse purchase" by a heating engineer will be unveiled to the public this weekend after a 15-year restoration project.
Malcolm Potts, from Cambridge, bought the ride in 2009 and he and a team of volunteers worked at Strumpshaw Steam Museum, near Norwich, to return it to its former glory.
People will be able to ride the carousel's horses, which have been featured in several films, once again on Sunday.
"It is fantastic to see it all back together again and working so well," said Mr Potts.
"There have been many times when I wondered if we would ever finish this ride.
"If it wasn’t for the wonderful people who have helped me - some of whom are sadly not here to see its completion - the restoration would never have happened."
Mr Potts said he was unsure why he bought the ride, but his wife had joked its cost totalled "the holiday flat in Menorca that she never got".
He bought the merry-go-round after spotting it being advertised in a magazine, but said he "daren't add up how much I have spent" on its restoration and initial purchase, made over several payments.
Although Mr Potts said the horses had been a "great labour of love", he revealed he probably would not have gone ahead with the deal if he had initially sought expert advice.
The project to restore the carousel - which dates back to 1895 - also had several painful setbacks.
In 2015 a fire broke out near some trucks in which some vital parts were stored, destroying woodwork for the frame and the carved wooden centre of the ride.
"That was a very dark day," said Mr Potts.
"To make matters worse, we had all the brass poles stolen from storage in Cambridge.”
Luckily, a showman offered Mr Potts a new centrepiece, while the Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach offered some parts which had been taken off a similar ride in the 1980s.
The gallopers were bought from Beamish Museum, near Durham, and featured in several films, including Disney's The Watcher In the Woods and Enid Blyton’s Famous Five.
Mr Potts has volunteered at the Strumpshaw Steam Museum since 2006 and has spent most weekends working there.
Family and friends were treated to go for a ride on the carousel for the first time on Saturday.
Kiki Angelrath, whose late father Wesley Key founded the museum, was delighted to have the ride on loan and open to the public at this weekend's Norwich Classic Car Show.
“After all the time they have spent and all the setbacks they have had, it is absolutely wonderful to see it completed - and how marvellous it looks,” she said.
The electric-powered carousel seats 30 people, with the horses repainted by a fairground artist and illuminated by 400 lightbulbs.
The original wooden figures were a mixture of dragons, cockerels and ostriches, but replaced by fibre-glass horses in the 1960s or 1970s.
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