Ever fancied running away to join a fair? Behind the glitter and laughter the work can be very demanding...

Everyone is familiar with the sights and sounds of the funfair. The smell of the hotdogs, the music blaring out, lights flashing as people scream with fear and delight on the rides.

But what goes on behind the scenes is a little more enigmatic. Funfairs seem to appear overnight only to vanish a few days later.

Peter Cole has run his funfair with his brother Billy since 1978. The business B Cole's & Sons was owned at one point by their father Bernard before being handed down to them, but its origins dates back to 1890.

Peter, 56, said: "Originally it was called the Steam Circus and has been in our family for six generations. It was passed onto Billy and I when our father died. He died in his caravan just 23 months after our mother."

In their day, going to the funfair was a much anticipated summer activity, but with the popularity of theme parks such as Chessington World of Adventures and Thorpe Park, local funfairs are suffering.

Peter, from Netley Abbey, said: "The theme parks do affect us. We have to keep on buying bigger and better rides to keep up with them.

"We have just spent £90,000 on a new Twister. I do go to the theme parks to check out the competition, and they lack the atmosphere that funfairs do. You have to go during the day, and be out by 6pm. By that time we are only just warming up.

"Theme parks don't feel the same. They don't have the same sights and smells as a funfair.

"People have a lot of bad opinions of fairground people. We work just as hard as everyone else, if not harder, and we pay our income tax.

"Just because we have a travelling lifestyle, we are not New Age travellers or gypsies. We spend probably about eight months of the year travelling and during that time we work incredibly hard.

"Our children do not suffer because of our lifestyle either. I have four girls, Louise, Kelly, Rhoda and Emma. Emma is only 19, and she used to go to school in Totton during the months we weren't travelling. During the other months she would have a private tutor who would come to the fairground to teach her.

"Her education is not any less good than any other 19-year-old. All of my daughters and all of Billy's six children all work on the fairground. It's a very family-led community.

"This August Bank Holiday, there are around 30 families on site and we are probably related to about a third of them as they are our first or second cousins."

Peter and Billy own five rides at the funfair - the Waltzer, Twister, Dodgems and two children's rides. Other ride owners come from all across the country to join up with the Cole brothers at the site.

Peter explains: "We take a contract for the use of the land from the council and then basically we sub-let parts of the area we have to other ride owners and food stall owners.

"It isn't just simply a case of us all turning up on a certain day and putting out our rides. Everything has to be carefully coordinated.

"When I know what rides and stalls we have coming, I have to arrive a day before we are due to set up to mark out where each ride goes.

"I do this by using spray paint, and I have to know the exact dimensions of the rides. Any mistake could cause great problems for us.

"The rides usually take three hours to set up and I do them with the help of my nephews, but a rollercoaster that we have here this time will take about two days to be assembled by a dozen men."

This year, The Showmen's Guild of Great Britain has launched National Funfair Week which aims to raise awareness about the work and lives of travelling showmen.

The Guild is worried that fairs are under threat from developers and town reorganisers and planners who deny fairs and their operators town centre locations to open in.

Peter and Billy have come across similar problems over the years. Said Peter: "Many years ago we used to be able to settle on very central locations. But as more and more housing developments have sprung up, we are having to settle for locations which are further out-of-town centres.

"Fortunately with Southampton Common we have never had any problems and we have been setting up the fairground here for about 40 years now.

"We travel all around Dorset and Hampshire and go to 25 locations during our season. During the winter months we set up our caravans in my yard at Netley Abbey and carry our repairs and paint jobs on the rides.

"We also like to go away for a couple of weeks for a well-deserved holiday.

"I don't plan to retire from the funfair when I reach 65. It isn't really something that you retire from.

"I plan to keep going for as long as I can."