AUDIENCES packed out venues for a popular ten-day festival celebrating the arts.

The Harwich Festival, which came to a close on Sunday, saw a range of classical, jazz, written, spoken and drawn art. There were free concerts, outside public dance performances and a special evening of local talent combining dance schools Ballroom Business and Boogie Shoes with community choir Harwich Sing.

Peter Davis, artistic director of the festival, said: “This year’s festival was a great success and feedback has been very positive.

“Our new programming team have done an amazing job with exceptional performances in all genres of music, dance and spoken and written word. Audience numbers were up from last year and many local people and those further afield enjoyed the concerts, dances and other entertainments.

“Once again we had several visual arts exhibitions which received many visitors. I would like to thank all of our volunteers, staff, partners and the wider community for their support in coming together to make such a wonderful celebration of the creative and performing arts.”

Performances were held at venues including St Nicholas Church, Cliff Park, the Redoubt Fort and even on board the Harwich Harbour Ferry.

Daniel Johnson, classical music programmer, said: “We have shown Harwich to be a wonderful hub for the arts and we are starting to put it on the map for those outside of our area.”