STEPHEN LEWIS visits St George's Field car park to see if all the fun of the fair is as noisy as it's cracked up to be

'Mum, Robert is crying!" screeched the little girl delightedly, flying past at the wheel of her dodgem and giving her mum an excited wave. Justine Graves, watching from the shade at the side of the dodgem stand, pulled a sympathetic face. Her two year old, Jack, wriggled in her arms and reached out towards his brother and sister and their cousins flying around gleefully, squealing with excitement and barging into each other. "You're too small for there," his mum chided, bouncing him in her arms.

Before long, the ride had finished and Justine, from Tang Hall, was surrounded by a crowd of excited, pushing, happy children. "I like people banging into me!" beamed eight-year-old Lauren, Justine's eldest, her eyes shining.

Jack, meanwhile, had decided it was his turn. "I want to go on that one!" he told his mum, stretching out his hand towards the ladybird roundabout nearby.

All this week, St George's Field car park in York has been transformed into a children's wonderland, with the arrival of the annual Easter funfair.

Small it may be compared to the fairground offerings of a seaside resort like Blackpool or even Scarborough: but the St George's Field fair has all the essential elements of fairground fun.

The dodgems, of course; the waltzer and acrobat rides that swing and fling you around until you're breathless and dizzy; the fairy tale castle; the stalls selling candy floss that dissolves on the tongue into a sweet, sticky mess; the shooting range where the corks always fire that little bit to the right; and the hook-a-prize stand where you can win plastic guns with foam darts.

All this, plus the ever-present sound of happy, shouting children, the disco beat pounding from the dodgems and the Hell Blazer ride, and the fairground smell of fried onions.

For parents such as Justine, desperate for something to keep the children occupied over the Easter holidays, the fair is a boon.

"It's a good idea," she said, pausing in her task of shepherding happy, chattering youngsters.

"It's good for the kids to have something to do over Easter. They have been looking forward to it. We were supposed to come on Bank Holiday Monday, but we had a barbecue instead, so I had to promise we'd come later!"

Not everybody, however, is as happy at the fair's annual arrival as Justine and her children.

Nicola Field, who lives in a flat on the opposite side of the river from the fair, has complained about the noise - saying the music from rides often continues after 9pm and is disturbing her peace.

"This has been going on all Easter," she told the Evening Press. "Why should we have to put up with it? No one consults us about whether we want this noise every night."

It's a complaint that surprises Justine. "Fair enough if it went on until 10pm, but I don't think 9pm is bad," she said. "I certainly wouldn't like to lose it."

When this intrepid reporter went to check out the fairground, the noise was certainly loud enough once you got there - so loud, in fact, that it was sometimes difficult to hear what Justine and her children were saying.

But it was surprising how quickly the sound diminished as we walked away. By the time we were crossing the Foss on Tower Street it was barely audible.

Sound carries better over water, of course - so Nicola Field's annoyance is perhaps understandable.

Clive Dale, however, who runs the shooting stall where I failed to win a prize - those corks that veer to the right again - wasn't that sympathetic.

"I can't really see that there will be lots of noise," he said.

"We close down by 9pm. The roundabout has permission to be open a bit later but doesn't stay much after that. The public don't stay long!"

Over on the acrobat ride, David Hackett agreed. It was his first year with the fair in York, he said. "But I've heard nobody complain. Nobody has said to me that the noise is too loud or anything." He certainly had no complaints from 12-year-old Gavin Lawrence, who'd just had a go on the acrobat. "It was really brilliant!" he beamed. "I like the noise! I'd like there to be more, bigger rides!"

His dad Stuart wasn't quite so sure, however. He and his son were visiting for a couple of days from Liverpool. "I think it is out of place here," he said. "If you go to Scarborough or Filey, OK, but not York. It doesn't look right in York."

Stephen Lowes, visiting from Rochdale with his son Peter, aged ten, agreed. "It's not a good idea," he said.

"We've got plenty of these in Rochdale, but it is not what we came to York to see. I'm quite surprised, and I can understand that it could be a bit noisy, in the evening particularly."

Needless to say, his son didn't agree. And neither did Sarah Anderson, from Cemetery Road in York, visiting the fair with her son Liam.

"Well good!" was Liam's verdict. Mum was a bit more measured, but equally approving. "I think it is harmless fun," she said.

"It only comes once a year. I think that is enough, but for the short time it is here, I think it is liveable.

"It's the school holidays, and we have to have something for the youngsters, otherwise they will just be hanging around the street corners."

George Dale, over at the shooting stall, points out that the fair has been coming to York for a long time - nearly a hundred years in York city centre, in fact, according to the city council.

It has already been reduced from three times to once a year, and the operating hours cut. To restrict it any further, Mr Dale says, would be a shame. "Most towns have a fair at least once a year," he said. "I think it must be a good thing for York, mustn't it?"

Not many children would disagree.

Updated: 10:47 Friday, April 05, 2002