THOUSANDS of people descended on the town of Blandford on Sunday for the 26th annual Georgian Fayre.

The event, one of the largest in the north Dorset town, boasted a range of stalls, games and activities throughout the day.

Visitors enjoyed the large craft area, a farmer’s market, dog agility classes, classic cars and even a model armour exhibition.

Dorset resident, and longtime event supporter, Peter Watson told the Echo: “I’ve been coming along to these for years now, not quite all of them, but more than half.

“It’s great to have old fashioned street fayres like this, especially as a lot of the produce is local to the county as well.”

Organisers believe the fayre is the largest Georgian event in the UK, and many stallholders and visitors dress in period costume for the day.

A Georgian Fayre spokesman explained: “The event aims to remind visitors of the town’s Georgian heritage and architecture.

“The fayre is an enabling event, not only for raising funds for local charities but allowing other charities and organisations in the town to raise funds and awareness for their causes.

“The committee is made up of a group of local people based in Blandford. Volunteers who have come together to help organise the event give up hundreds of hours of their own time completely unpaid.”

As the Blandford fayre is a charity event, visitors were asked to donate voluntarily on admission to the town.

Money is ploughed back into community groups within the Blandford area. More than one million pounds has been raised in the event’s history.

Visitor Sandra Hughes said: “It has been a lovely day, especially as the weather has been so nice to us.”

Among this year’s highlights were performances by the Stour Valley band, New Forest Yokels and the Wessex Highlanders.

There was also a duck race, barrel racing and a display of miniature model firepower from the Dorset Tank Club

The spokesman said: “We hope that an increased sense of community will lead to more personal involvement and more culture, educational and social activities, which will create a better community and better place for us to live.”