THE 74th annual Calne Music and Arts Festival drew to a close at the weekend after a second week of performances brought hundreds of people into the town.

Marden House was packed and in a party mood for the big finale which took place on Sunday evening.

Harry Strutter’s Hot Four, a traditional jazz band, entertained and towards the end of the evening, chairs were cleared for dancing and prizes were presented to winners in the art and poetry competitions.

Festival president Carole Browne said: “It is a major effort year on year, but people are very appreciative. It was lovely to see so many people coming up on Sunday to say thank you to everyone who has done so much.

“It’s not just the committee, we have people who help with the catering, with moving furniture, with preparing the stage for the various bands, with publicity and so on.

“We are working on the festival all through the year. Our first meeting for 2019 is next week.

“We have also been very, very lucky this year with sponsorship, apart from Chilvester who support the entire festival, we have had various concerts sponsored as well, and we are very, very grateful for that support.”

Throughout the week, there were performances from students at St Mary’s and the John Bentley schools, a piano recital by two local teachers, Mary Pilcher Clayon and Alta Ridgeway, an evening of Indian music, an evening of poetry and music performed by Calne vicar the Rev Bob Kenway and composer James Harpham, an art talk by Katrina Van Grouw and a music workshop for young children.

This year, the festival saw more music from around the world than ever before, including Japanese drummers, Samswara, an Indian group, and music from Gambia and West Africa.

For more info visit www.cmaf.org.uk