Trevor Cruickshank on his stall at Grandma’s Attic Fair at the Woking Leisure Centre.
Derek Townes popped into the Grandma’s Attic Fair at the Woking Leisure Centre to peruse the stalls and was pleased to secure a Carltonware vase for a bargain price of £10.
Townes, a Carltonware collector, was one of 910 visitors through the door on February 19 to view the range of Art Deco and antiques that were on offer.
The Woking fair is only a year old in its current guise but is already a popular destination for both buyers and dealers.
The latest edition hosted 90 stallholders across 170 tables and has a waiting list of dealers on the books.
Run by Take Five Fairs until 2017, Grandma’s Attic organiser Chris Brown restarted the event in 2021 and it has gone from strength to strength.
The Woking Leisure Centre venue.
Good organisation
Peter Elliot, from Elliot Fine Glass, is one of the many dealers who worked this fair under both organisers and had only positive things to say.
He told ATG: “I’ve always done this fair and it’s always been very well run.
“It’s about a 50/50 dealer to dealer, dealer to customer and some private clients come to see me here.”
Ceramics dealer Nigel Peters shared similar sentiments. “I know Chris, and the organisation is good”, he said. “People are buying bits, so I like this fair.”
One of his buyers was Philip Christie, who had found a piece of Poole pottery on Peters’ stand and had snapped it up for £24.
A regular to this fair, Christie said: “We’re massive Art Deco fans and this is a great specialised fair.”
Another regular stallholder, Trevor Cruickshank, also heaped praises on the organisation.
“The fair’s going well”, he said. “I like that people are very friendly and come and spend money. It’s all very well organised.”
He sold a necklace that attracted a visitor by the way it caught the light.
The buyer was local to the fair and said she liked it because “of the different bits that you can get. I’m not a collector but I like finding different kinds of items.” Having been at the event for only a few minutes, she parted with £10 for her new jewellery.
Also trading in jewellery were Alistair and Debbie. They were standing at Woking for the first time but have done some of the other Grandma’s Attic fairs and have already decided that they’ll be returning. They attributed the day’s success to “a nice, varied group and the customers are enjoying themselves”.
One of their happy customers was Michael Holohan, a first-time visitor, who had travelled in from Wimbledon just to peruse the event. He struck up a conversation with Alistair and Debbie and ended up spending £95 for an unusual medal of St Christopher that had the saint engraved on both sides.
Jason Benson from Jayman Antiques brought a selection of silver. He was pleased with the turnout, despite three other antiques fairs running within three miles. He attributed footfall to the calibre of dealers.
He said: “There are fairly knowledgeable people, mostly all interested in buying from us.”
Andrew Bowker, a postcard specialist and regular exhibitor, travelled from Portsmouth for the event. The appeal for him? “Great organisers, good catchment area for the buyers and the parking is free on a Sunday!”
A group of young buyers who gave their names as Lydia, Gagan and Alex were pleased with his offerings, and found a postcard of St Peter’s Convalescent Home in Kent, as well as two other examples for £10 in total.
Other opportunities
The next Grandma’s Attic Woking event will be on May 14 but if you cannot wait that long, the organisers are holding their Westgate Leisure Centre Fair in Chichester on March 12 and at the Midhurst Grange Centre on the April 2.
