LAST Saturday saw the sun shine on the first day of a six-week extravaganza of events that make up the annual Tavistock Music and Arts Festival.

The festival was formally opened in the Terrace Restaurant at noon on Saturday, before a story-telling workshop in Tavistock Library and a dance event on Bedford Square, featuring the Thread and Tread dancers and a display of street dancing with Rob Holland and Perry Johnson (seen above with town crier David Turner), the youth dance ambassador for West Devon.

The festival includes a huge variety of musical and artistic events taking place in a range of venues around the Tavistock area.

Tomorrow (Friday) there will be a play reading at the Wharf at 2pm, and at 5.30pm Tavistock College will stage the Tavistock Music Academy Concert.

On Saturday there will be a painting workshop at the United Reformed Church run by Nick Collier and Laura Hopes, and during the evening, the South West Chamber Choir will sing in the parish church — Stabat Mater will include music by Pergolesi, Palestrina and Fauré,

For details of all the festival events in the coming weeks, go to http://www.tavistockmusic.co.uk">www.tavistockmusic.co.uk

The festival finishes on Monday May 2.