ORGANISERS of the Bromyard Hop Festival say that this year's event is set to be bigger and better than ever.

Now in its fifth year, the festival has become one of the town’s favourite annual events, last year attracting an estimated 5,000 people, who lined the streets for the unique Hop Pocket Race.

This year's event is taking place on Saturday, September 5, and the new organising committee has filled the day with sights and sounds for young and old alike.

With Bromyard at the heart of the country's biggest hop-growing area, hops are the central theme of the festival, with hop-bines on sale at the Town Green and with a display of hop-picking through the years from the Bromyard History Society.

Favourite features such as the rural crafts on the Town Green, and the craft fair in the Public Hall, are back, but new this year is climbing wall, provided by the army, to challenge nerves and fitness.

One of the main attractions is the parade of vintage tractors and cars through the town centre, starting at 1.30pm, with the vehicles parked along the main streets afterwards so that visitors can get a closer look at them.

And the racing itself, in which teams have to carry heavy sacks of hops un and down Broad Street and High Street, starts at 4.30pm presided over by mayor Tony Burt, who will present the prizes at 6pm.

There is theatrical creativity as well, with a new hop play being performed by local actors at the Conquest Theatre, at 12.30pm and 2.30pm.

Music at the festival starts on the Friday night, with Folk in the Foyer at the Conquest Theatre, featuring the Golden Lion Light Orchestra and story-tellers Mike and Terri Green.

On the day, the music is folk at the Town Green with the Stoned Cherries, the Tony Burt Band, Carole Palmer and Maria Barham, and Horizon Lights, while at the Market Square, the rock and pop line-up includes Neil Ivison and Dave Whittaker, Hannah Clayton, Parthanax, and Mark Davis.

To enter the Hop Pocket Race, download an entry form from bromyardhopfestival.co.uk.