Thousands attend fourth year of free beach festival

It was the fourth year of the First Light Festival in Lowestoft

Festival organisers said they were already thinking ahead to next year's event after thousands attended over the weekend.

First Light, the UK's only free beach festival, was held on Saturday and Sunday in Lowestoft, Suffolk, to celebrate the start of summer at the UK's most easterly point.

Thousands turned up to enjoy food, music, dance and a parade for the festival's fourth year.

Chief executive of First Light, Genevieve Christie, said the event had been the best one they had held yet.

Genevieve Christie said festival planners were thinking ahead to next year

"This weekend we've had thousands of people come," she said.

"The weather didn't put anybody off [on Saturday]. We had rain, we had sun, we had everything and people just got on with it, it was brilliant."

She added: "The festival has been fantastic this weekend - I think it's maybe the best one.

"We're already thinking about exciting things we can do for next year."

Ms Christie said she believed the event had become part of the "cultural calendar for the East of England" and had put Lowestoft "on the map".

The festival, which has a partnership with the borough and county councils and Arts Council England, is held on the weekend closest to the summer solstice.

It celebrates the first light of the day in the town where daylight breaks before anywhere else in the UK.

First Light Festival took place on Lowestoft beach on Saturday and Sunday

The event saw a supermarket on the beach from Charity Super.Mkt that Families Together Suffolk made use of along with two other charities.

Co-founder and designer of the event, Wayne Hemmingway, said he was keen to make sure charity shops were not relegated to "secondary and tertiary locations", like he believed they were in shopping destinations.

"We know it's everybody buying from second hand and it shouldn't be pushed into corners," he said.

"People used to think that charity shopping was just about thrift and poor people.

"You know when you buy in a charity shop your money isn't ending up in some offshore investment bank, it's ending up saving somebody's life."

Giant sculptures were also placed on the beach ahead of the event by sculptor Laurence Edwards.

The Walking Men has travelled throughout the UK and was previously put on display in Australia.

They will remain there until the end of August.