The sky’s the limit at festival

Crowds estimated at anything up to 20,000 flocked into town to watch a wide range of colourful kites on show, accompanied for the first time by music from a succession of acts on a promenade stage.

The two-day Festival has grown rapidly to become one of the biggest events of its kind in the country and organisers’ spokesman Pat May said: “The spectator turnout on Saturday was amazing.

“Last year, we reckoned we had about 5,000 come along on each day but Saturday’s sunshine saw a vast increase in that number.

“The rain on Sunday meant the numbers were down that day but we still flew kites and were delighted to see the people who did come along.

“This was the first year we had based the kites on the south side of the pier across from the hotels and it was a huge success.”