Who owns the Ferris wheel on Parker’s Piece? It might be the biggest stunt in Cambridge: victory over 80 planning objections to become the sole business on the historic common.

The person I am looking for is Stanley Thurston. He bought the big wheel in Turkey five years ago. The Stanley Thurston & Sons family business has been running funfairs in Cambridge and around East Anglia for over a century. I get the intel in chunks from the man operating the wheel. Three men who have come straight from a funeral clamber on. If I’m lucky, I might find Stanley setting up his fair on Midsummer Common.

Stanley Thurston — or “Big Stanley” as he is known in the family — is before me. Smart and lean in jeans and a gilet. Earlier, there is some confusion over which Stanley Thurston I want to speak to, there are five in the family.

Behind Stanley, there’s a carcass of a humongous bouncy castle that is yet to be inflated.

Stanley is matter of fact when I ask how you purchase a Ferris wheel. “There are manufacturers that build wheels, just like there are with all rides. We went over to Turkey and got our order in. It was built over there and shipped back to us.” At 36 metres, it is the second tallest structure in Cambridge after the catholic church.

None of the fairground rides compare to the wheel in size. With the scale of the purchase, I want to know if there were any doubts. “I was nervous when I got it, because it’s so big compared to your usual rides. The rides in the fair can fit on a trailer, on trucks, they all just fold up hydraulically. But with the wheel, it’s cranes and everything. When I first saw it I thought, oh my god, look at the size of this thing.”

Stanley had already discussed the prospect of a wheel with Cambridge City Council. There are wheels in every major city, he points out. “The council were interested in having one here. I said, if I purchase one, can I have a contract? Because I couldn’t lay that sort of money out without a contract. So they agreed and it’s been doing very well.”

The wheel was approved by the council in 2021 and the contract will end in August this year. Stanley intends to apply for another two years and is bracing for criticism when it goes back to planning permission. “Most people like the wheel. The problem is you get about 40 or 50 people that don’t want it. They cause all the problems and they’re the vocal ones. Some of them haven’t even seen it in person.”  

At the funfair, Stanley operates the Twister. “The joy of my job is seeing people enjoy themselves. But it’s getting harder now, because the people are not as nice as they used to be.

Stanley is almost 67. Games on mobile phones destroyed his arcade business. “The biggest challenge is social media and people running your business down. People can spread all kinds of rumours because they don’t like the fair being here. Everybody listens. I think that’s wrong to be able to do that to someone’s business. Any business, not just mine.”

As we talk, one of Stanley’s employees wants to show him a photo of his dog. I meet another employee who has worked for Stanley for 36 years. He tells me he was homeless before that.

Supplying rides and attractions since 1833. For over a century, there’s been a steady stream of showmen in the Thurston family. Stanley’s ancestor, “Froggy” Thurston, built the first fairground rides: a turning mechanical horse for children. The original Stanley Thurston was born in 1898. He grew up among fair grounds and became a famous showman in East Anglia.

I’m curious about the Thurston wives & daughters. “The women work hard. They do normal house work but they also operate. My wife operates the dodgems. My daughter does the food. She has the candy, the sweets, and the hot food. So that’s her business. They’re a good, hard working part of the business.”

The fair on Midsummer common runs each day until 5 May. The wheel spins from 1 April to 31 August. It gets dismantled over six days and returns in November for the Christmas season.