A HOMEGROWN village festival showed no sign of slowing its success as the 10th anniversary event came to an end.

Music on the Marr, started by Castle Carrock residents exactly a decade ago, once again attracted visitors from near and afar to revel in a weekend of music, culture, food and all things fun.

Led by Richard Johnstone, the annual summer festival has gone from strength to strength - even when other small-scale festivals in the county have faded away.

Speaking yesterday, on the final day of the festival, Richard said the numbers of people who flocked to the fellside village across the weekend were “phenomenal”.

“Our numbers have been way in excess of what we expected,” he said.

“The festival’s pre-bookings were about a third ahead of what we’ve seen previously.

“I think there might be a number of reasons why we have seen such a strong turnout this year.

“Firstly, we have increased our offering of Celtic music - we have a lot of Scottish and Irish bands.

“Given our geography that’s probably appropriate.

“But we also had a large event on Saturday paying tribute to Roy Bailey, who was our patron.

“We had many of the great and good from traditional English music and Scottish music for a two-and-a-half hour epic concert in memory of the wonderful Roy Bailey.”

Richard added that it was important to see Music on the Marr continue and thrive in light of other Cumbrian festivals such as the Maryport Blues Festival having wound up recently.

“I’m not sure if there’s a secret formula for success,” he said.

“Half of our audience comes back every year, they’re very discerning.

“We just try to make sure we keep filling the programme with high quality local, national and international talent, and try and put on the best show we can.”