A much-loved music festival made its grand return to Bridport at the weekend as the town was filled with musicians and dancers.

More than 50 music acts and 18 dance groups performed across the town with three main stages at the Millennium Green, Bucky Doo Square and Borough Gardens.

The festival began on Friday, July 26, with a classical concert featuring performances from the Glorishears, Pauline Vallance, David Mitchell, Moonfleet and Bob Carter at Bridport Town Hall.

On Saturday the two headline acts - folk/rock band Merry Hell and the Swamp Stomp String Band entertained crowds at Millennium Green. 

Organiser Chris Deacon said: "It was very busy, we had a lot of people come and enjoy the festival.

"It is extremely rewarding to run the festival, the joy is being able to listen to the wonderful folk acts.

"All of our music acts were superb.

"It is so refreshing to see the tradition carrying on with younger acts getting involved."

The festival was cancelled in 2023 due to financial problems and Mr Deacon's own health issues.

READ MORE: Bridport Folk Festival 2023 is cancelled by organisers

The future of the event now looks promising but Mr Deacon, 75, is looking for people to help run the event in the future.

He said: "The last festival was in 2022 and it took it's toll on me and the organisers, I hoped someone may be able to take over.

"Nobody wants to see the festival die.

"When we packed up we made sure we still made donations to the charities.

"Starting from scratch again was hard but the festival had to come back, it has such an enormous following.

"I am confident now that people may come out and help run the festival and take over from my role.

"I am 75 years old now, it is very tiring for me to do.

"This is the first year I have not collapsed or ended up in hospital whilst the event has been on.

"When you run a festival, you are responsible for everything, it is dependent on you."