The crowds looked on as Wentworth MP John Healey officially launched the 35th festival in Montgomery Square on Saturday morning.

People lined the streets to enjoy everything from the Bantu International African Dancers to a Samba Band and Irish Dancing.

At noon the crowds flocked to the Parish Church for the traditional and ever popular throwing of the bread buns from the church tower.

In the afternoon there was a performance from the Honeydrum Afro-Carribean drummers and dancers, plus Indian dancers, performances from Wath Morris Men, choir singing and chinese dancing.

There were also a number of performances at Wath Montgomery Hall during the festival's wider programme between Wednesday April 30 and Bank Holiday Monday.

There was the Eric Sampson Schhols Concerts last Wednesday and Thursday followed by performances headlined on Friday by John Tams and Eric Coope.

Cara Dillon and Martyn Joseph were amongst the performers on Saturday and the Sunday matinee slot was headlined by Kris Drever. The Sunday evening show featured performances from Lau and the Battlefield Band.

The festival rounded off on the Monday with an invitation for musicians and singers to come along and play at the Sandygate pub.

Chair of Wath Festival David Roche said "This was the biggest festival we have held so far, we estimated that there were in the region of 3,500 to 4,000 visitors all together.

"The audience reaction was absolutely fantastic. We had many comments about how well the festival was run and about how much people enjoyed what was going on so we are very pleased."