PETERSFIELD Museum is hosting a Victorian fair in The Square, which will also see the launch of the museum’s buy a brick fundraising drive.

The fair will be the first time that commemorative bricks aimed at raising funds for the museum conversion project will be on sale.

The project will extend the museum in the town’s Victorian courthouse into the former Petersfield police station on St Peter’s Road, which was built in the 1850s.

Museum trustee Vaughan Clarke said: “The bricks will have the names of the people or companies that buy them engraved on them in gold.

“They will form a decorative pavement in front of the museum, and path going around to the back of the museum into the courtyard.

“There is 1,000 bricks for sale, and prices range from £30 for a brick with one name on it, to £75 for companies.”

The fair on Sunday, May 13, from 10am to 5pm, will see St Peter’s Road from the museum to The Square, and The Square itself, closed to traffic for the day.

Museum education officer Ryan Watts said: “At this special event visitors will be trans-ported back 150 years to experience Victorian Petersfield.

“There will be a plethora of period themed food, activities, events and entertainment, including Victorian bikes and cars, of which there seem to be a growing number turn-ing up.

“There will also be traction engine rides around the town.”

On a stage there will be a production of the Victorian musical, The Pirates of Penzance by Petersfield Theatre Group, and drama students from The Petersfield School will sing songs from the hit musical, Oliver.

Queen Victoria is also booked to visit the fair, and a town crier will be promoting the various attractions, including a ‘Guess the Weight of the Yokel’ competition, and a Punch and Judy show.

There will also be a photographer on hand to record the day for posterity, photograph families, and take portrait pictures, using an antique Victorian camera on a tripod.

Ryan said: “We are very excited to have a Victorian photographer from the Dimbola Museum and Galleries on the Isle of Wight taking visitors’ pictures throughout the day.”

In the museum, which is free entry for the day, among other Victorian exhibits, rare postage stamps of the era will be on display, and there will be a children’s carousel in the courtyard behind the former police station.

Ryan added: “Stallholders, museum staff, and those running the attractions, will be dressed in Victorian costume, so it would be great if everyone came dressed as Victorians, and there will be prizes for the best dressed.”

For details contact Ryann Watts at Petersfield Museum on 01730 262601.