ORGANISERS of last Sunday's Ledbury Celebration are hailing it as a shining success, not least because the weather behaved itself and the crowds turned out to browse, dine and to be entertained.

The Celebration, by now something of an annual tradition, is in fact "a celebration of local food and drink, music and poetry; a special free event for the town on the last day of the Poetry Festival, organised by Ledbury Food Group and Ledbury Poetry Festival".

Event spokesman, Griff Holliday said: "The prospect of an exciting Wimbledon final encouraged more people to come early to savour the food on offer. The expanded seating area provided by the Nest was appreciated by visitors who settled there through the day to brunch, lunch and picnic. So popular was what was available that many stall holders sold out during the afternoon."

Mr Holliday added: "People crowded into the drinks area to enjoy local beers and ciders, and more exotic brews, drawn by the continuous and varied programme of live music and poetry arranged by Ben Lewis and the Ledbury Poetry Festival team. In another corner of the site, the Fetch Theatre’s Clapperbox puppet theatre kept young and old entertained and fascinated all day."

Mr Holliday said he only regretted that it had not been possible to have local cherries this year, "due to a later harvest".

But he said: "The event showed Ledbury to be a special place for local food and drink, and for culture."