TALL tales and street theatre proved real crowd-pullers at the Lakeland Storytelling Festival in Staveley last weekend.

Organisers Taffy and Chrissy Thomas were delighted as people flocked to pubs, halls, churches, and open spaces in the village.

Leading street theatre outfit The Chipolatas provided music and mayhem around Staveley and Ings, paving the way for top storytellers such as Tuup (who battled through despite a bout of flu), The Dancing Fosbrooks and the Irish twosome of yarn-spinner and balladeer John Campbell and Len Graham.

It was a proud (and hectic) time for the Thomases staging 24 festival events with more than 1,000 people attending: "It was a huge success," beamed Taffy.

"We sold twice as many tickets as we did last year."

Chrissy said the Saturday night Grand Ceilidh was amazing: "Due to a massive demand for tickets and the hall's fire regulations we had to turn some people away at the door.

We were sorry about that, but hope they'll get in next year."

Among the endless list of highlights was Staveley and Chorley schoolchildren waxing lyrical together in the Out of the Mouths presentation at Staveley Primary School.

And Taffy was in fine form spooking the punters in one of the biggest draws of the festival when a crowd of more than 500 joined him in the open space of Bobbin Mill Yard for Ghost Stories by Firelight.

Summing up the happy throng, Taffy said the storytellers performed better than ever before: "They performed out of their skins.

"Audiences were warm and generous and performers shared the stage with each other readily and professionally.

"I heard that you couldn't book a meal or bed and breakfast around the Staveley and Ings area over the weekend.

So we hope that we've helped towards the regeneration of the region after the horrors foot-and-mouth of last year".