A MODEL maker is counting on the fun of the fair to draw crowds to an exhibition raising money for heart patients.

After spending five years creating a miniature working fairground, Peter Campbell is putting it on show in Tudhoe Community Centre next month.

The display, which will also include model railways and trucks, military figures, a working steam engine, woodcarvings, matchstick buildings, dolls house accessories and other miniatures, will help pay for coronary research at Newcastle's Freeman Hospital, where Mr Campbell has been a patient for more than 20 years.

It will be opened by the Mayor of Spennymoor, Councillor John Culine, who is a fairground operator and member of the Showmen's Guild.

Mr Campbell, 65, who had to give up his job as an electrical engineer because of ill-health, spend hours constructing his models at his home in Attwood Terrace, Tudhoe, and intends eventually to give it to his grandson, Joseph Smale, three.

He started by making a Ferris wheel and has added a range of rides and stalls, mostly using German-made kits.

He said: "I had a triple heart bypass in 1983 and I do what I can to raise money for the Freeman."

The exhibition will be open on Saturday, October 9, from 1.30am to 5pm. For details contact Mr Campbell on (01388) 815003.