There is something rather magical about carousels. As the beautifully painted horses whirl up and down around a brightly-coloured space, while an old-time organ blasts out tunes, it's small wonder they attract people of all ages.

So it is odd to think that they were developed for military reasons. In the 12th century, the Arabs built them for cavalry training, and it was only in the 17th century that they became popular for entertainment.

Ross Woodford, who owns one of these magnificent rides, has written briefly about the history of gallopers -as they're known in the industry - on his website.

We first met at St Giles' Fair, where he was exhibiting his newly-rebuilt carousel. However, it wasn't until the interview that I discovered that, while it was Mr Woodford's first time there, the central gearing system that makes the whole thing work, had almost certainly been before.

"It came out of a particular ride that used to go to St Giles' Fair about 50 or 60 years ago," he said.

"I don't know if any of the original ride was part of what I bought, but I'd like to think it was."

When Mr Woodford first saw the gearing system six years ago, it was a heap of junk, but he brought it back to his home and, over the next five years, painstakingly restored the mechanics and then built a brand new carousel on top.

The result is truly stunning. In operation for a year, it will be back at St Giles' next year and is well worth a visit.

This is the third ride that Mr Woodford, 42, who is based at Southmoor, near Abingdon, has rescued from the junk heap.

He describes himself as a first generation showman who was attracted to the industry because of a childhood friendship with members of local funfair dynasty, the Hebborn family.

"It's partly the life, the music, the atmosphere of it, but more importantly, what I found appealing was the strong community within the industry," he explained.

"People help each other, people are good to each other. I knew I was an outsider, but I was always accepted. That made me feel privileged."

He was involved in the business from the age of 12, helping to operate rides, and knew he wanted to make a career as a showman.

However, he first took an engineering apprenticeship at the Cowley Car works which gave him a lot of the skills needed for the restoration work.

Working there also came in handy when he bought his first ride, a derelict ferris wheel.

He said: "At one time there were loads of people making bits and pieces for me for the wheel.

"The standing joke was that I had it made in kit form and gradually took it out, piece by piece."

After seven years it was ready, so he gave up his day job and since then has worked exclusively in the fiarground industry.

For 18 months Mr Woodford travelled around the south east with the Carter Steam Fair, but then sold that and went to work for a firm in Enstone that constructed rides.

While working there, he bought another derelict ride, a Rock-O-Plane, and after restoring that, combined travelling and salaried employment.

What he had really wanted was a carousel. By the time he found the gearings, the company was about to close, so he became a contractor and over the next five years, between jobs, built a new carousel, outsourcing the more specialist work, such as building the horses, cutting the mirrors and the specialist traditional painting.

"I did make the mould for the fibreglass around the top, so our set is unique," he said.

He funded restoration through sub-contracting for two fairground ride companies and by selling the Rock-O-Plane.

Of the three rides he has renovated, this is the one he likes best.

"I always worked towards this for financial reasons. But it's also the one ride that people hire a lot for private events, and it was always my intention that our business would be a mixture of fairs and events and being contracted for private work."

Private work includes weddings, birthday parties and corporate family fun days and prices start at just over £2,000.

"It's dependent on the location, because that is directly related to our costs," he said.

Difficulty with access can also prove expensive. In any case, Mr Woodford makes a site visit before quoting.

It must be a very hard industry in many ways, not least because of its dependency on the weather, but Mr Woodford gets an enormous sense of job satisfaction from what he does.

"You see kids on there, having fun, smiling. I sometimes think to myself, our business must be the most trivial thing in the world, because you've got people like doctors, nurses, who help people get better and compared to that, what we do is trivial.

"But then I think, people have got to have fun too."