MORE than 600 people from across the county attended the largest ever Royal Wootton Bassett Arts Festival last weekend for young people and adults.

The organisers for the ninth festival had to employ four adjudicators to give expert feedback and advice to those taking part in the event at the Royal Wootton Bassett Academy.

Students took part in over 70 separate classes from solo, group and duologue acting to mime, news reading, choral speaking and poetry recitals. The level of talent and hard work displayed was exceptional this year said the organiser with over 100 trophies and medals being awarded to the top performers.

Chair, Sandra McDowell said: “We are delighted with the high level of participation and engagement from our performers, their teachers and parents this year. Taking part in a festival is no mean feat and we congratulate all those who took part. We hope they feel enriched from their experience and have gleaned some tips from our inspirational adjudicators”.

The Classical Guitar Festival took place alongside the Speech and Drama that included classes for Baroque, Spanish/Latin and Modern as well as duets and ensembles.

In June and July the first part of the festival took place featuring music and is staged in a number of venues.The festival is completed with the November section with speech and drama, and classical guitar. It began in 2005 and was intended to be a bi-annual event with the second festival taking place in 2007, but due to its popularity it is is now run annually.