Government funding and ambition led to fair success

WHEN recession forced the closure of Ron Dilks' haulage firm in the 1980s, he pulled himself off the scrapheap to set up a very unusual business.

- By STEPHEN SINFIELD

Armed with only a Government grant and a supportive family, Mr Dilks took a huge financial gamble to go it alone as a fairground showman.

Speaking in July 1987, after six months of nonstop work, Mr Dilks said: “I had often been to fairs and galas and had seen attractions like swing boats and fun castles and I realised what a market there was for them.

“But all of the people involved in them were amateurs who used them to make extra cash at the weekend.

“I thought there must be a living to be made here if done professionally.”