Advintageous vintage fair

I didn’t keep quiet about how much I loved the Advintageous vintage fair when it came to Wakefield last spring.

It brought a usually tired and quiet shopping centre to life with dancing, foot-tapping, victory rolls and red lipstick.

So I was keen to go back this year and, as luck would have it (or perhaps good planning!) it fell on Mother’s Day, so I took my mum for a browse after our delicious afternoon tea.

I am in no way a vintage purist, or even much of an enthusiast: I have the odd item in my house and wardrobe. But I love going to fairs like this because I find it fascinating to peer at these items from decades ago, and wonder at the hands that have held them and the lives they were a part of.

This particular fair is special because it comes with a smile guaranteed. It combines vintage sellers with singers, dancers and hairdressers, and every so often you will pass a huddle of people who could have stepped right out of the 1940s: military uniforms, trilbys, braces, wingtips, polka dots, tea dresses, turn-ups, head scarves, mary janes. I thought they looked fantastic.

I enjoyed the fair just as much as last year and this time it was bigger with two floors of stalls.

There are Advintageous fairs across Yorkshire throughout the summer. Get along to one – they’re so good for the soul. I promise you’ll walk out happier than you went in.