FOLK on the Quay returned this weekend for the first time in two years.

Crowds were treated to two days of free folk music and dancing on Poole Quay.

Acts included: Nick Parker & Friends, Gadarene, Hatful of Rain and Krista Green and The Bees.

Catherine Burke, entertainment organiser said: “The organisers of the events at Poole Tourism got in touch with us because we run the Purbeck Valley Folk Festival, so we’ve been doing this since 2013.

“We’ve not done it for two years, so we’re trying to remember how it all goes but everything seems to be going swimmingly.

“We’ve been lucky with the weather because it's been chucking it down all week and it's been changing every five minutes.”

Thousands of people came through the area throughout the day, with crowds gathering along the quay.

Ms Burke said: “The number of people that come here always exceeds our expectations because Poole Quay is busy, it's a nice place to be, so when we’ve got events on it's always surprising how busy it is especially when there’s forecast rain, so that's really good.

“We know that most people like folk music, they just don’t know they like folk music because it's just nice music, it's not too loud, not too in your face.

“It's the same with here and Purbeck, people often come and say oh we didn't think we liked folk music and we liked everything we heard.

“We’ve got some of the real top names in folk music playing here, there's lots of different Morris dancers and folk dancers from around the world, there’s Eastern European dancing happening right now, so it's not just English traditional music and dancing and there's a kids Irish dancing group that is really cute.”

Ms Burke worked with the council, who organised the road closures and the licensing.

She said: “The event has been funded by BCP council in order to encourage people to spend money on the local businesses and to bring people to the local area.”