A HEALTH festival will take place in Barrow for the second time after a lengthy break due to Covid halted its growth.

The Bay Health Festivals, which runs every year in Lancaster, will also host an event in Barrow to pro-actively help people engage with their health.

The Lancaster event sees local organisations host activities alongside guest speakers.

Ian Dewar, who started the festival in Lancaster six years ago, said: "Six years ago, I came up with the idea of a health festival.

"The idea was that we spend a lot of time at the NHS telling people what to do and what not to do - but we wanted to engage people a little bit more.

"We want people to think about health before they are ill - the aim and purpose is to create a space to have a conversation to make the difference."

By its fourth year, it had grown from hundreds to more than 4,000 attendees in Lancaster and organisers decided to expand it across the Morecambe Bay.

In Barrow, it was attended by 1,000 people but the pandemic meant a second festival never took place.

But this year, the event will take over Barrow Raiders' pitch on July 9 from 10.00am-4.00pm.

It will be attended by organisations who do brilliant work in the local community.

Mr Dewar said: "We are very excited to expand this event once again and hope that it is a success.

"The eventual goal is to have health festivals all around the Baay - and be a model for other services to look at.

"What we are doing here is unique - it does not happen anywhere else in the country."