David Jones was known as the fairground owner with the kindest heart in the Black Country.

As testament to how popular he was, more than 500 fairground folk are expected to attend the funeral on Tuesday at St John’s Church in Cradley for the owner of Jones’ Fairground, based at the Black Country Living Museum in Dudley for the last 27 years.

Mr Jones, who died on April 2 after suffering from septicemia, grew up on the fairground, which travelled throughout the Black Country and even met his wife Sandra while on the road.

His sons Matthew and Dean, who have now taken over the fairground at the museum, said he was loved dearly by his three children and 14 grandchildren.

“My father was a great man with such a kind heart,” said Matthew, aged 40.

“Our family has worked on fairgrounds since the 1900s and travelled around the Black Country.

“I grew up on my father’s fairground and we used to travel from March to November and had winter quarters in Cradley Heath.

“A lot of fairground people still live in Cradley Heath in the winter and we are part of that big community, which is mourning my father’s death.

“We are having to put speakers up outside the church on Tuesday because we are expecting more than 500 people will attend.”

Matthew said his father was known as the kindest fairground owner in the Black Country because he would always try to help families out.

“He knew how tough it was and so he would always find space on his fairground for someone who was travelling with a ride,” he added.

“Other fairground owners would say ‘he may have been the kindest but he wasn’t the wealthiest’.

“Although my dad did quite well. He loved his Jaguar cars and we used to travel around in a 52ft long purple caravan, which was the same colour as one of his Jags.”

Dean said the family business started when his great-grandfather travelled around the country with his coconut shy.

“My great-grandad’s four sons decided to start Jones’ Travelling Funfair and they had four parks in Dudley,” he added.

“For the rest of the year they travelled with other fairs, but the furthest they would go was Coventry. When my father took over the business he decided to expand the number of parks and he built it up from four to more than 50.”

Mr Jones decided to approach the Black Country Living Museum 27 years ago. “My father’s cousins, Harry and Thomas, decided to carry on travelling with the modern fair but my father wanted to concentrate on the older rides,” said Dean.

“He spoke to the museum and explained how for years most fairground owners have had winter quarters in Cradley Heath and so there should be some representation of that at the museum.

“My father worked on the fair at the museum until he died and was very proud.

“He was always checking for chipped paint and making sure things worked properly. He loved being part of the museum.”