THE first Bournemouth Dragon Boat Festival has been hailed as a roaring success.

Mayor of Bournemouth John Adams and mayoress Suzi Curtis were greeted by a beautiful red and gold Chinese dragon and dancers in colourful costumes to open the event at the Moordown Community Centre on Sunday, June 28.

The informative family event was organised by the Bournemouth Chinese School to bring Chinese culture to the local community.

"The festival was great fun for family and children. Looked like everyone enjoyed it and enjoyed being part of it," said Sadie MacDonald, a volunteer from Boscombe.

"There were lots of fun activities, games stalls, informative talks, entertainment and many other things going on at the same time. I look forward to the next one."

The festival programme included a cooking competition with the mayor and mayoress, a special martial arts demonstration by Hollywood action film stunt artist Hayward Ho, children's Chinese dragon boat races, traditional Chinese dancing and a bouncy castle.

Freddie Williams, eight, took part in the Kung Fu film-fighting demonstration.

He said: "It was awesome doing my first street fighting demonstration in front of an audience."

Throughout the afternoon people purchased raffle tickets in the hope of winning a trip to Hong Kong or an Apple iPad Mini.

The £900 raised in the raffle will go to four different charities - Great Ormond Street Hospital, Cancer Research UK, Julia's House and Bournemouth Chinese School.

All winners will be contacted by phone or email after July 5.

The Chinese Dragon Boat Festival was organised by Bournemouth Chinese School, a charity school for residents in Bournemouth and surrounding areas to come together and learn Chinese language and culture.

For more information visit www.bournemouthchineseschool.org.