020 8795 4282Latest Fun Fair News from Irvin Leisure
Fun Fair news from around the country.
Annual Hampton Court Easter Fair raises over £2000 for The Princess Alice Hospice
Irvin Leisure is proud to announce that the sum of £2000 was raised for the the Princess Alice Hospice charity at George Irvin’s annual Easter funfair at Hampton Court on Thursday 13th April. The funfair was a great success running from the 13th to the 18th April 2017, with over 40,000 visitors attending over the […]
George Irvin’s Carousel gets a makeover at London Fashion Week
Fashion designer Marta Jakubowski showed real style at this years’ London Fashion week by using a funfair carousel from Irvin Leisure to show off her Spring/Summer 2017 collection. Created by set designer Gary Card, the carousel was redressed in hot pink and rotated at slower speeds to show off the chic eveningwear in matching fuchsia, […]
Fairfield Funfair in Kingston raises £1000 for Momentum
George Irvin’s funfairs are once again generously donating £1000 to the Mayor of Kingston upon Thames’s Charitable Trust. The Mayor’ charitable trust is proud to be supporting Momentum during 2016/2017 which an amazing charity that supports children with cancer and other life-limiting conditions. One of Momentum’s main aims is to improve the healing environment in […]
Annual Shepherds Bush Green Fun Fair raises £1000 for Charity
Irvin Leisure is delighted to announce that the annual Shepherds Bush Green Fun Fair held on the 22nd July to 7th August raised £1000 for the Major of Hammersmith & Fulham’s charities. This term Councillor Mercy Umeh, Mayor of Hammersmith & Fulham is supporting Hammersmith & Fulham Mind and Hammersmith and Fulham Foodbank, two great charities in the local […]
Generous George Irvin Supports Hospice
George Irvin’s Funfair recently presented a cheque for £2,000 to us at Hampton Court Palace. The funds were raised, in part, from the sale of wristbands on ‘Charity Tuesday’ at this year’s Hampton Court Fair. Unfortunately, bad weather over the Easter weekend meant that the footfall at the Fair was lower than usual and fewer […]
George Irvin’s Shepherds Bush Funfair Raises £1000 for Charity
The Charity Wristband Day at this Easter’s funfair at Shepherds Bush Green was a roaring success and raised £1000 for charity. The picture above shows George Irvin Jnr presenting the cheque to the Mayor of London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham These funds will go towards the following two charities: * Lupus – […]
Enter Islington in Bloom 2016 and win up to £100!
This year’s Islington in Bloom competition will open for entries Friday – 15th April and you could be in with a chance to win up to £100 in Camden Garden Centre vouchers! The competition invites Islington’s residents and businesses to enter their blooming masterpieces. If you don’t have a window box, container garden or front garden at home […]
George Irvin’s Fun Fair help raise £35,000 for St John’s Hospice
Easter Fayre Raises £35,000! Thousands filled St John’s Wood Church Gardens in support. There was a funfair, donkey rides, the chance to meet Peppa Pig, face painting and a BBQ surrounded by an array of local traders selling food, toys, jewellery and many more homemade crafts. We would like to thank our sponsors; Barclays St […]
Hampton Court Funfair 2016
The Hampton Court Funfair, crammed with family fun and white knuckle rides, is gearing up for its annual showpiece this Easter. Best of all it will be FREE to enter! The Fair will open at 12noon on Good Friday 25th March and stay open right through to 11pm that night and then open the same time every day for […]
IMG at the Natural History Museum
Irvin leisure are proud to be joining IMG at the Natural History Museum again this year with one of our Traditional Carousels as part of the truly magical Christmas that the IMG creates for the Museum each year. From the rows of trees lit with sparkly fairy lights at the spectacular Swarovski ice skating rink, […]
Oh we do like to be beside the seaside
Margate was a happy hunting ground for George Irvin’s Family Fair for many years. Up until the 1990s we would visit there every summer, and George is in fact lifetime president of the Twinning Association of the Town! Unfortunately the park on which the fair operated was sold by the local authority and so we […]
Proud to paint Palace Monument
As most local people are aware, we have been attending Crystal Palace with our annual funfairs now since the 1940s so we have actually been involved in fairs here longer than the Crystal Palace was actually on site. As a mark of respect to the former Palace, a number of years ago we were asked […]
Stare at the skies at Hampton Court
Hampton Court Palace was 600 years old this Easter and the Palace staged a lot of historical commemorative pageants, but sadly no beheadings despite the place’s rather bloody past! However it all culminated in the most magnificent fireworks display and we thought you might love this photo taken from our fair!
St Johns Hospice Easter Fayre raises more than £45,000
We always take part in the Hospital of St John and St Elizabeth annual fetes and festivals that raise much needed funds for this magnificent establishment. That is why we were delighted to read the press release below, celebrating their success at the recent event staged on March 21st and 22nd 2015. Thousands enjoyed fun […]
Apple iPhone Giveaway!
THIS COMPETITION HAS NOW ENDED Yes you read correctly – We are giving away a FREE Apple iPhone Every Month! It is really easy to win one as well, just do the following: SEND YOUR FAVOURITE FUNFAIR IMAGE ALONG WITH YOUR NAME, ADDRESS & TEL NUMBER TO: promotions@irvinleisure.com THIS COMPETITION HAS NOW ENDED The best image WINS an Apple […]
Ecology v Economy? Not at Irvin Leisure
The great environmental campaigner Kermit the Frog once mused in song “It’s not easy being green” and how appropriate that was for him, fighting off the rather amorous advances of Miss Piggy, but for Irvin Leisure it is possible. We are often asked about progress on our ground breaking, though not literally we insist, Environmental […]
A part of our history rediscovered.
In the 50s and 60s, the Irvin Family owned and operated a fantastic and popular Brooklands Speedway track, and below you can learn all about these rides. A similar ride to the hugely successful Dodgem, the Brooklands Speedway track (sometimes called a Rally Track) was introduced in the late 1930s – aspiring to the famous […]
New Cars from Old!
Irvin Leisure are thrilled to have introduced a superb new, but very old, children’s car ride the Austin Cars, and here we show some magnificent photos of this ride, sitting proudly in the winter snow, and then placed in front of the iconic Olympic Stadium in QE2 Park in Stratford. This ride is […]
A fascinating history of our Antique Austin Car Ride
AUSTIN J 40 It was in 1943 that Parliament passed an act that recognised that many miners were been struck down with what the miners called “The Dust” (pneumoconiosis’s). The Government decided to encourage employers to give ex-miners employment. Leonard Lord had taken this to heart and decided that those (in this case South Wales […]
A very happy new year to all our readers!
All of us at Irvin Leisure wish both of you, the people who read this stuff, a very happy and prosperous, and peaceful, new year for 2015. See you at our fairs! By the way, it is slightly depressing to hear that some of you who read this did not realise that this […]
Another family photo
Another one from the family archives. Right to left as you look at this photo, taken in Poplar Road in Ashford at the family home from around 1960, are George and his brothers and sister, John, David and Lillian Irvin. The car on which they sit was George’s grandfather’s new Vauxhall Cresta, he first in […]
A poetical tribute to our family history, circa 1950.
Henley Regatta (Anonymous….any help to trace the author would be appreciated.) Regatta time comes once a yearThe Traylen-Irvin crowd are hereWith fair so large,, well that we know,The two combine to do the show. Trailers, lorries, diesels tooCaravans of every hueAn old red lorry with starry bonnetWith “Thrills galore” all painted on it. The Irvin […]
Our line back to the First World War
To followers of the Irvin history, George’s cousin Henry Chipperfield recently sent us an image of his Helter Skelter at Edinburgh. We have probably had more Lighthouse Helter Skelters in our family than most others going back several generations. All this started from William Irvin who had four brothers, one went to Scotland which is […]
Just a typical week!
We just wanted to share some images with you from the last few days here. First of all, the wonderful, annual, Fireworks Night Festival in Brent! It was a great and enjoyable night, and congratulations to Brent for their wonderful organisation! Now, below, the superb Homeserve Family Day and some particularly exciting white knuckle […]
Amanda from Land Rover organised a great day out for her staff!
We were thrilled to attend the opening of the new factory for Jaguar Land Rover in Wolverhampton and delighted to receive the email below: Your staff were amazing and didn’t stop all afternoon. In particular Colin Preece (Health & Safety) was extremely pleased with the professionalism shown by everyone during the set up process, which […]
We shall remember them!
As you will know, the First World War started 100 years ago and this is a time when we all look back and think of those brave soldiers who went to war to help create our future. Millions from many countries did not return and their sacrifice, and that of their families, is something we […]
Charity begins at home
We are fortunate to meet during the year many of Britain’s hard working Mayors who are so important in their roles, representing their boroughs and their areas and also raising funds for vital charities. We are proud to help them by raising funds from you, our visitors, and passing them on. That is why George […]
Superb images from our friends at VS Creative
We are fortunate to work with some superb and high quality event companies, and one such is VS Creative. They have sent us some images shot at one of their 2014 Corporate Events, and we wanted to share them with you all. (Or both, we never know who reads this stuff really!)
Wild times at Wilderness
Sometimes those we work with amaze us with their imaginative use of our superb range of rides and attractions, but this year the Wilderness Festival surpassed themselves with this clever use of one of our Victorian Style Carousels for use by bands and by DJs, with the band at the front and then the ride […]
Great times and great causes to support
All through the year we at Irvin Leisure try to support good causes, other than the great cause of giving everyone at our events a wonderful time, and last week we enjoyed a double treat. First of all, the Mayor of Hammersmith and Fulham Councillor Mercy Umeh visited our fair at Shepherds Bush on our […]
Certainly not a Fete worse than death
During the year we love taking part in community festivals, and one such as the Abbeville Fete in south London. Here we have some fabulous images from the event that show the enjoyment felt by the children and families which is a great credit to that army of volunteers who contribute so much to ensure […]
To see ourselves as others see us!
From time to time we have requests from photographers who want to come and film our rides for their own portfolios, and we love to help. These webpages feature some, but none better than these taken by our friend Colin Bridgewater and so he has agreed we can share them with you! They seem […]
East London is on the slide.
In 2012 Stratford in east London hosted some sort of sports event, and from this was created the magnificent Queen Elizabeth II Park. Opened by a couple of people on Friday 4th April (Boris Johnson and Prince Harry) this wonderful open space for local people is the first major park built in London for over […]
Food for thought as we are mentioned in Dispatches
On Monday 7th April, the professional team from Dispatches at ITN broadcast a thought provoking programme on sugar content in “low fat” food. It was so good that your author, not a think type of a bloke, is now only chewing on lettuce leaves! However whilst the programme was superb, the creative thinking that went […]
Thank you for saying thank you!
We really appreciate this kind message from Trinity Hospice and the photo on Twitter from when we gave them a well deserved cheque from our events on Clapham Common!
We can’t be beaten around the Bush
It’s great to be back at Shepherds Bush after a two year break whilst this wonderful oasis in the heart of west London was renovated, and the local public flocked to our opening night. Irvin Leisure have been regular visitors to Shepherds Bush for many years now and love the work done by the London […]
Keep in touch and win prizes.
Irvin Leisure is now thrilled to announce that our Facebook and Twitter pages are thriving these days and you can keep in touch with all our news and post your views too. (Almost poetical really that). So if you are a twit on Twitter or a face on Facebook, tweet away and win special prizes.
Supercar Pageant Super Day Out
Last June St John’s Wood hosted a fabulous classic car pageant, entitled “Supercar” and in 2013 we were delighted to take along some of our family attractions to help the organisers raise funds for their chosen charities. Now St John’s Wood is best known for being the home of Lords Cricket Ground, centre of the […]
Trinity Hospice Enjoys Royal Visit
One of the many worthy causes supported by Irvin Leisure each year, Trinity Hospice in Lambeth, welcomed a very special visitor in February 2014, and by a remarkable coincidence this was at the same time as we were raising funds for the Hospice at our popular annual Half Term Fair on nearby Clapham Common. Read […]