Thousands brave rain for folk festival

More than 80,000 people battled the wet weather to flood a town's streets for an annual folk festival.

Crowds gathered in Dorset over the weekend for the Wimborne Minster Folk Festival.

Forty teams of traditional dancers performed throughout the streets, alongside musicians of all genres, with local venues including the Minster also opening their doors to artists.

There was heavy rain on Saturday, but people "came with waterproofs and big smiles determined to have a good time," the festival chairman said.

He thanked everyone who came along to the event on the weekend.

There were marching bands in the form of Gugge 2000 and The Quarterjacks, whose youngest member is only seven years old.

"Busk stops" popped up around the town with buskers performing in the streets.

The town's Allendale House was also taken over by art displays and stalls from local artists.

There was original music from singer-songwriters such as Rob Clamp and Rachel Hill and comedy music from The Polly Morris Band, Matt Black and Dorset Phil.

Andrew James ,who was running the Irish music session at the Allendale Café on Saturday, said: "The Room was already full of musicians, then the heavy rain started and everyone came in.

"Suddenly we were running a music session in a sauna."

Polly Morris, who was performing with her band on the Microbrewery Stage on Saturday afternoon, said: "It was wonderful. I thought the rain would stop people coming but they were dancing with their umbrellas in the puddles.

"It was really heart-warming."

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