HISTORY and heritage combined for the first day of the King's Park Vintage Steam Show over the weekend.

You can see a gallery of our photos from the event here.

The event - which featured around 80 steam engines, classic cars, vintage tractors and even a children's fairground - took place in bright sunshine after an unpromising start.

Organiser David Froud said he even considered cancelling the event on Friday night as storms lashed Dorset.

"It started really badly - we lost our marquees and arena fencing in the storm," he said.

"It got to the point where really, I was thinking about calling it off. But we got it all sorted in the end and it couldn't have been better."

It might have been Mr Froud's first-ever time organising a show like it, but many other will remember similar events hosted by his grandfather Ken.

"Around 15 years ago, my grandfather organised steam rallies at King's Park, where the skate park is now," he said.

"Sadly, he passed on 11 years ago, and the rally came to a complete halt because there was no one to take over the organisation of it. Last year, my aunt and I organised a street party in King's Park Road and the steam show just developed from that."

Mr Froud was approached by a local councillor during the street party, and from there decided to host a bigger event.

"He said, 'Do you want to do something like this but bigger in King's Park?'" Mr Froud said.

"We've had so much support from people, including absolutely loads of local companies who have backed the event. It's been fantastic."

Visitors were given the chance to donate to Mr Froud's chosen charity, Help for Heroes, over the course of the weekend.

But he said the main aim of the show was just to give something back to the community.

"The main reason I wanted to do it was because I could," he said.

"It's just so that people could have fun for free in a nice place. The feedback has been brilliant so far, and all that matters is that everyone had a nice time. Hopefully they did."