CARTERS STEAM FAIR
The childhood elation of gliding on a majestic steed on the Jubilee Steam Gallopers or riding on the pirate ship at Carters Steam Fair, accompanied by an Elvis soundtrack, was put on hold this year. But Joby and Georgina Carter, who run the fair – the world’s largest, founded in 1977 when Joby’s parents first restored the gallopers – have been coming up with ways to keep it going. Their 2020 fixtures are cancelled, but they are pioneering online fairground art classes, socially distant dodgem rides and more.
“It was set to be the 40th anniversary of our first show at Pinkneys Green, a VE Day extravaganza,” says Joby. “When Covid-19 arrived, I felt like I was facing the abyss. I came up with as many ideas as I could, but I’m a complete technophobe. My poor wife, Georgina, has been a wizard putting them into action. We’re always in debt in the spring, because we make nothing to mention all winter until we get back on the road. That’s the nature of it. It’s expensive to run, but I do it as a custodian,” he says. “It owns me, rather than the other way around. I was so thankful for the furlough scheme, but the terrible thing was I had some temporary staff I had to let go. I let six or so stay at our headquarters while social distancing to start with, rather than them be left homeless.”
Carters more closely resembles a film set than a modern attraction (and featured in Paddington 2 and The Theory of
Everything). Joby is a fairground artist, as well as a travelling showman and restorer of nostalgic maroon, red and yellow vehicles. During lockdown, he’s been teaching virtual signwriting courses at £25 a head, streaming live on Facebook. “I’ve got a load of followers on Instagram, and all that rhubarb,” he says – 14,700, to be precise.
“My father always said it would be a good idea to have a skill to fall back on, because you never know what’s around the corner. I really believe in keeping traditional brushwork skills alive using block and shadow without computers and when the fair isn’t on tour, I host signwriting art workshops and tours of our yard here in White Waltham.” An intensive five-day signwriting course with Joby is usually £570 per person, in a group of 15 (these are set to run again from November).
“I thought, I’ve got to do something. I knew people at home were tearing their hair out. Signwriting has saved the fair; at one point I was doing three online courses a day, with up to 100 people joining at a time.” Joby has also been creating small one-off signs and has raised £7,000 for the Alexander Devine children’s hospice by auctioning them off.
Now, the Carters have launched a socially distant dodgems experience at their Maidenhead HQ: £60 for private access for 30 minutes, so drivers can bump around in a family bubble; there’s also hook-a-duck and pick’n’mix. “We’re playing it safe,” says Joby. “I keep asking myself if we should go back out now, but if we were 10 per cent down on turnover, we’d lose money. A local lockdown could ruin us. My dad bought the dodgems in the 1990s, but the shells didn’t fit the chassis, so they were shelved. He passed away in 2000, and restoring them has been a labour of love. I’m not going to make a fortune, but if we don’t get a booking, we don’t put the generator on. Considering they cost £100,000 to restore, it isn’t great business, but it’s something. I’ll do whatever I need to to keep Carters Steam Fair alive so I don’t have to make staff redundant.”
But for Joby, 44, and Georgina, 29 (who “ran away with the circus” nine years ago, cutting short her marketing degree), lockdown has also given them space to experience family life differently. “I’ve never done anything else,” says Joby. “We started travelling every summer when I was a baby: it’s not the freedom you might think it is, but I’m used to living in a wagon, that way of life. This year, I’ve had time to go cycling, to visit my in-laws in Torquay – I said to Georgina, I never realised what you gave up to be with me. That said, we were supposed to be in Hemel Hempstead last Saturday, and I was itching to be there. We’ve had a breather, but I’m desperate to start booking next year, though we know we might have to make changes.”
Between homeschooling John, 14, Elizabeth, seven, and Teddy, six, Georgina has penned a children’s book (a tale centred on the fair) and reapplied to finish her degree, honing the marketing skills she put to the test this summer.
“From a family and personal point of view, it’s been great, although from a business point of view, it’s been pants,” she says. “Usually we’re the ones providing the entertainment, not doing the normal things that normal folk do – but this definitely won’t be the last you see of Carters.”
‘We’re playing it safe. A local lockdown could ruin us’