LIFE ON THE ROAD WITH CARTERS STEAM FAIR
Many people imagine living on a travelling fair would be a perfect, idyllic lifestyle – going where the work takes you, travelling at a stately pace along romantic lanes, and being an object of exotic mystery to the public you meet. The reality, though, isn't quite the same!
These days you can't just travel where you like – all the fairgrounds are booked months in advance, and the Fair is moved from place to place in a very carefully orchestrated operation, involving a great deal of hard work, early mornings and late nights. Throughout the season, the Fair travels to a new site almost every weekend.
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To set up on a new site, Carters must first contact the local council and organise a site visit. The Fair is almost self-sufficient, but it does need access to a water point, so a hydrant must be nearby. There often follows meetings with police and officials to show that Carters is capable of dealing with its own security, and that logistical things like access and parking for the patrons has been taken into account.
Building up the Gallopers
Reams of paperwork is exchanged between Carters and the council, with test certificates for the rides, boiler safety certificates for the steam engines, insurance, food hygiene, security certificates, risk assessments, first aid certificates, a map of the proposed layout, method statements and a list of devices. Some councils ask for CRB (criminal record) checks for the staff, and for events where Carters runs fireworks, there need to be fireworks risk assessments, insurance and safety certificates. This process can go on for many months, making sure that both parties are happy with the requirements.
The Fair can't just ask to go onto a park and set up – there are fees to be paid. Many parks ask for a few thousand pounds for a weekend's operation, and they also ask for a deposit upfront to protect against damage to the ground. Carters Steam Fair makes every effort to avoid damage to sites – the aim is to be able to pull off a site and leave it looking as it did when the Fair first arrived. Carters has a very good reputation, and there are some sites which only let Carters on, as the Fair is sensitive to the environment and the local residents.
Once the venue has been confirmed, posters are designed and printed, and advertisements are taken out – one of the largest expenses Carters faces. The postcode of the site is found and advertised on the website so people with sat nav can find it easily. Toilets for the public, and skips are hired for the site to remove any rubbish. A week or so before the Fair pulls on to the site, posters are put up around the local area.
The Fair will start pulling down on the Sunday evening ready to move. If it's near houses, they will stop early so as not to disturb residents, but otherwise they will work into the late evening. Then from 8am on the Monday the Fair will continue to be pulled down and packed up in its trailers, and by 4 or 5pm most rides will be packed and coupled to their lorries, which will be pointing towards the gate to give them a head start. Lorries are checked; oil and water, tyres are inspected. Living vans can't be thoroughly packed down at this point (loose possessions have to be packed to prevent breakages) because they're still needed to live in.
It's all worth it in the end! Fair workers take a break on the Chair-o-Plane
On the Tuesday it's usually moving day. Starting early in the morning, living vans are packed down and readied for the road. All the loads are coupled with their lorries – with around two trailers each, they can stretch as long as 84 feet. Drivers are brought in specially to move the Fair – to drive the heavy lorries you have to be over 21, have an HGV licence, and you have to be used to driving old and sometimes difficult vehicles. The lorries are accompanied by people in cars to ferry the drivers back and forth between sites to get the next load. There are usually around six drivers.
At the new site, the layout has been worked out already and the rides are marked out on the ground. Each week Joby and Seth take turns to set out the site; it's a hard job because there are certain areas that people don't like to be – being next to a fairground organ for an entire weekend can be wearing. All effort is made to rotate it, so everyone gets an equal chance. The rides have to be a certain distance apart to allow access for emergency vehicles.
It usually takes around a day to move the fair, but sometimes it takes two, depending on the distance. The rides start to be built up the minute they arrive on site; it usually takes around 5-6 hours to build up the Gallopers alone, and everything is thoroughly checked as it's built up. The Fair begins to be built up when it arrives on the Tuesday, and continues through the week; often small elements are still being set out on Saturday morning before it's opened to the public.
When the public stream in to the fair on the Saturday, they have no idea what frenetic activity has been employed to get it there. It has the appearance of something that has been there for ever, and the workers are friendly and cheerful, encouraging people to have fun. The effortless professionalism of Carters is one of its major strengths – for those two days their whole focus is on the welfare and enjoyment of the public, before they begin to take it all down again ready for the next move.
