KENDAL'S inaugural Unity Festival has been hailed a success by organisers.

Saturday's event at Abbot Hall Park aimed to bring people together, create a 'greater sense of community' and help people to understand the diversity that the town offers.

A global coffee morning and the Great Get Together Picnic saw people making new friends while sharing food.

Kendal-based Amabile Choir wowed the crowd with its performance and the Bryce Street Strummers and Untethered had them dancing before Growing Singing got everyone singing together.

Stalls offering activities, advice and information from local organisations were busy all day. Visitors could get up close and personal with the Kendal Torchlight dragon, dress up as a suffragette and play the diversity game with the South Lakes Interfaith Forum.

Meanwhile at the library, local author Claire Griffel took children on a journey to a distant land with her storytelling, Manna House staged mask-making fun around a totem pole at the Birdcage and shoppers were stopped in their tracks by the Thunder Drummers.

At the Brewery Arts Centre people were invited to create a giant mural, listen to poetry recitals and watch the Boys Advanced Dance company perform, while the Unitarian Chapel was the setting for the Hidden Stories Shared Lives exhibition.

To close the event The Warehouse Café was transformed into a pop up rainbow café for a showing of the film Pride.

“The festival was all about connecting communities and celebrating diversity,” explained festival co-ordinator Aftab Khan from AWAZ. “The range of participants and the numbers of people who came to enjoy the day are an indicator of how much diversity there is in Kendal and shows that people want to celebrate it.

"The artistic, creative and energetic contributions of everyone involved were outstanding. And I want to say thanks to the many volunteers, especially the Cumbria Youth Council and Lancaster University Students, whose hard work made it happened. It was a fantastic day and we are planning on making it an annual event.”