PEOPLE from all across the county descending on Oxford to enjoy all the fun of the fair.

The annual St Giles’ Fair was staged on Monday and Tuesday and thrill seekers young and old turned out in force.

This year’s event mixed the more traditional fun-fair rides with some distinctly modern white-knuckle attractions.

Imogen Drolet, nine, from Wolvercote, gave one of the more up-to-date rides a go.

She said: “I am having a nice day but I didn’t like the ride when it went up and down.

“My parents didn’t really want to come but I made them.”

Karen Hazell, 29, from Thame, came to the fair with her three children Sophie, Jack and Leo.

She said: “We haven’t been here before but it has been really good. We are bringing the children here as a treat before they go back to school.”

Meanwhile 11-year-old Ashley Roff from Thame managed to win himself a huge lollipop on the strongman machine.

He said: “I am pretty pleased with it.”

Last year’s fair drew about 70,000 people.

The fair started life as a parish festival in 1625 when locals would celebrate the feast of St Giles.

By the 18th century the festival had become a toy fair and in the 19th century became a general children’s fair.

In the 1830s it became an annual holiday for the working classes and the arrival of the railways meant it drew crowds from across the county.

Since the 19th century it has been held on the Monday and Tuesday following the first Sunday after St Giles’ Day, which is September 1.