A SPECTACULAR festival came to an unforgettable climax with a concert in a packed out church.

The Harwich Festival of the Arts ended with music from Wagner, Bartof and Orff performed by both children and adult choirs along with atmospheric light projections which changed the face of St Nicholas’ Church.

After 12 days including everything from opera to poetry and a mix of national and local talent, artistic director Diana Burrell is delighted with how this year’s event has gone.

“The final concert was wonderful and the church was absolutely full of people and I feel like we went out on a high,” she said.

“We are very proud of the variety of events we have managed to put on, especially getting Simon Armitage to come and do a poetry reading was fantastic.

“Also having Yantra – who play music from Bulgaria, India and England – were fantastic and something people have never heard before.

“Someone from the audience said they never expected to hear something like this in their hometown but why can’t we have something like this in Harwich?

“It has been a great festival.”