THOUSANDS of folk fans descended on Bromyard for a weekend of foot-tapping fun — but organisers say they will need even more support to keep the festival alive next year.

Bromyard Folk Festival drew in between 2,000 and 3,000 people to its 48th event last weekend (September 11 to 13).

The festival featured some of the biggest names on the folk circuit, including Breabach, Sharon Shannon, Gerry Colvin Band and the New Rope String Band, as well as several workshops and Morris Dancing performances.

Festival organiser, Lynne Barker, said this year's festival has been hailed "the best ever" by some, but that ticket sales were down.

"The festival was brilliant. The weather held out for us, the range and quality of artistes and entertainment meant something and more for everyone and there were so many positive comments on our Facebook page about the event, with some people saying the festival was the best yet.

"Unfortunately this year we were down on ticket sales and this will have an impact on our future. We don't know why and we do know that many festivals suffered this year for some reason. But it is a shame. This year we didn't get much local support at all. In previous years we have had fairly good local support but it wasn't there this year.

"We do really hope that we can keep going to our 50th in two years time."