A POPULAR music festival in a picturesque village has been hailed a great success.

Music enthusiasts from across the county attended the Ribchester Music Festival at the historic St Wilfrid's Church.

The festival has gone from strength to strength since being launched in 1992 by former parish priest Andrew Hindley.

This year's event, under the baton of newly-appointed director Adrian Partington, included performances by international pianist Peter Donohoe, the English String Orchestra and Welsh Brass.

St Wilfrid's resounded with the echo of 200 young voices during a special children's singing session.

And actress and author Claire Nielson, whose TV credits include Fawlty Towers, Rab C Nesbitt and London's Burning, performed a late-night show, called 'Home and Away,' featuring words and music from the Second World War.

Opera star Donald Maxwell and festival director Adrian Partington raised the curtain on 'Great Operatic Disasters' and the hilarious Circus Alchemy performed street theatre outside the White Bull.

The festival culminated with a special Eucharist at St Wilfrid's, accompanied by Welsh Brass and the Choir of the English String Orchestra.

Spokesman Tim Rainford said: "This year's festival has been a great success. Our new artistic director turned out to be super and attendances were high. The feedback has been wonderful and the festival was a lot of fun. We are very pleased."

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