Thomas and Tina Robers are well known to shoppers as owners of Darlington's Wrapping Box stall but what do they do the rest of the year? Sharon Griffiths finds out.

YOU know it's coming up to Christmas when The Wrapping Box appears on the pavement in Darlington. Situated outside Burtons and opposite Boots, The Wrapping Box is a little square stall selling Christmas cards and wrapping paper. Like the lights and the tree, it's an essential part of the town's Christmas. Thomas and Tina Roberts have been there every year for the last 12 years, have lots of regulars and cheerily greet old friends.

But what do they do the rest of the year?

Well they're not, as some people imagine, sunning themselves on an exotic beach. Fat chance. In fact, they're working pretty much all year round, but not in this part of the world.

"Fairs, festivals and car boot sales," says Thomas, "catering and kiddies' rides".

He's from an old showman family - is actually Thomas Roberts IV - and grew up with rides and coconut shies and fairground stalls. He still has rides, even through the winter, at locations all over the country, easily running up 1,000 miles a week looking after them.

Thomas is from the Midlands, and years ago on a holiday in the Canaries ("five hundred showmen all there at the same time") he met Tina. "And I knew straightaway I was going to marry her," he says. She's from Durham and her parents had the wrapping paper stall in Darlington, where she used to help as a child, so they decided to keep it going.

"We like coming up here, keeping in touch with family and when the weather's good, we really enjoy it. There are still people who remember me," says Tina, who says she never gets cold because she's constantly darting from one side of the stall to another serving customers.

Three sides of the square are their shop front, the fourth is their "office". They have a generator for light and take turns to nip off to nearby cafes for a hot drink.

Rain they can cope with - they can wrap the stall round and keep everything dry - though not many people are inclined to stop and buy. Windy days are the worst, when they have to give up and go home, and might not even make enough to cover the cost of getting there.

Every day they have to put the stall up and take it down again, put the stock on display, hang the wrapping paper over a clothes rack and hope for dry and sunny weather so customers will stop and buy and have time for a chat.

"They're nice people in Darlington, which is why we like to come," says Thomas. "And there's no trouble, especially with the cameras up there. There are some places I've taken the rides that I won't go back to, places where you just get the wrong sort of people. But we've got to know lots of people here. It's hard work but it's different, our Christmas break."

They used to be here for Valentine's Day and Mothers' Day as well, but Valentine's Day has been killed by the mobile phone says Thomas.

"We'd have lads coming here, grinning and buying half a dozen cards. Now they just send all the girls text messages instead. Not very romantic."

Today's big demand is for musical cards - you can hear the tune ringing out tinnily, but it's infuriatingly difficult to track it down.

The other problem is the rent the council charges for the pitch. "It keeps going up, Thomas says. He usually has a second pitch outside Binns. "Makes you wonder if it's worth it, especially if you get a spell of bad weather."

The couple have two young sons - Thomas Roberts V and Alfie - who sometimes "help" at weekends. They also "help" their mother with her catering business in the summer, where they're more interested in the food on offer. In their world of constant work and travelling, Thomas and Tina are determined to make plenty of time for the boys.

Christmas will be spent in the Midlands, where they have a big showman's caravan near Thomas's family. And Thomas and Tina's organisation puts most of us to shame. Back when we 'd only just put our summer clothes away, they were all ready for Christmas, right down to the last detail.

"Before we came up here in the first week of November, we decorated the caravan, put the tree and all the lights up, wrapped all the presents and hid them away. My cousin will go in and switch everything on, so when we get down there on Christmas Eve it will be all warm and bright and welcoming. Then we know it's Christmas and can relax," says Thomas.

As long as reading their Christmas cards doesn't remind them too much of work.