MEMBERS of the Stroud-based Giffords Circus have been set the delicate task of restoring the iconic wagons.
A team of skilled painters, carpenters and sign writers are using traditional coach painting techniques to refurbish the wagons.
The aim is to get the wagons in top shape before the national tour begins in May.
Owner of Giffords Circus, Nell Gifford believes the wagons are hugely important to the show.
"One of the things that makes Giffords Circus so beautiful are the sixteen 1930’s vintage style showman’s wagons that we have either restored or built from scratch,” she said.
“To us the exterior of the circus – the tent, the wagons and the landscape – is as much a part of the circus as the show.”
However, painting the wagons is a very delicate process and can easily go wrong.
“There are about nine processes involved in the painting alone,” said Louisa Birkin, head of the art department at Giffords Circus.
“All the wagons are sanded down, then primed before being hand painted with special enamel paint blended by Bailey’s Paints in Stroud to our Giffords burgundy shade and sign written by hand here at Fennells Farm.
“It’s a traditional process that isn’t often used in this day of spray-painting.”
The wagons are all being painted ready for the new tour, My Beautiful Circus, which opens in Stroud on May 4, 2018.
For more information and to buy tickets please visit www.giffordscircus.com.
List of tour dates
Friday 4 May – Monday 14 May
Fennells Farm, Stroud
Thursday 17 May – Monday 21 May
Sudeley Castle, Winchcombe
Thursday 25 May – Monday 4 June
Daylesford Organic Farm, Kingham
Thursday 7 June – Monday 11 June
Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire
Thursday 14 June – Monday 25 June
Oxford University Parks, Oxford
Thursday 28 June – Monday 9 July
Chiswick House & Gardens, London
Thursday 12 July – Monday 16 July
Windsor Great Park, Berkshire
Thursday 19 July – Monday 23 July
Stonor Park, Henley on Thames
Thursday 26 July – Monday 6 August
Barrington, Burford
Thursday 9 August – Monday 13 August
Village Green, Frampton on Severn
Thursday 16 August – Tuesday 28 August
Minchinhampton Common, Gloucestershire
Thursday 31 August – Monday 10 September
Marlborough Common, Wiltshire
Thursday 13 September – Monday 24 September
Stratton Meadows, Cirencester
Thursday 27 September- Sunday 30 September
Fennells Farm, Stroud
To purchase tickets across the tour please visit:
www.giffordscircus.com
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