Carnival atmosphere at Michaelmas fair

Organisers of Bishop's Castle's 17th annual Michaelmas fair have praised the thousands of people who attended for creating a 'carnival atmosphere' on the town's streets.

An estimated 5,000 people braved the wet weather to attend the two-day event over the weekend, with attractions including live music from top local bands and processions of traction and steam engines.

Activities continued into the evening on both Saturday and yesterday, and the high street was closed on both days for the event.

Town band Fight the Bear, whose music will be played on Radio 1 all this week as the station's Tip of the Week, performed yesterday evening on the main stage in the high street.?On Saturday night there were samba and lantern processions.

The streets were also lined for a procession of 60 classic cars, 21 traction engines, 32 tractors and about 15 commercial vehicles led by Jaipur Kawa Brass Band on Saturday lunchtime.

The fair, organised by John Lucas and his committee, also included a number of stalls and static displays as well as roving themed acts such as Bring Out Your Dead, which featured two people dressed in medieval costume wandering around the streets.

Daredevil stuntman Ben Savage gave displays on his BMX on both days and proved extremely popular with younger people.

Neville Swales, a committee member, said it was believed despite the weather about 5,000 people turned out over the weekend.

He said: "The weather did keep a few people away but the enthusiasm was certainly still there. The streets were packed for the procession of vintage vehicles on Saturday and even late at night some of the traction engines and tractors were parked outside town pubs and people were spilling out on to the streets. There was a real carnival and party atmosphere."

He added: "Hopefully we will break even and we are looking forward to holding another successful event next year."