Town holds events for Harry Potter's birthday

Members of the public could get a photo with dark wizard Lord Voldemort

Free events are being held in a town to celebrate the birthday of one of literature's most well-known wizards.

A Wizard's Birthday in Bridgnorth saw dozens of activities and workshops held for the public to celebrate Harry Potter's birthday.

Run by folk music event company Shire Folk, the aim was to create an affordable day of events for families.

"There aren’t that many opportunities for people to go out with their families and have a day out without it costing them a huge amount of money," said Jennifer Bone from Shire Folk.

"In summer that can be really hard for a lot of families, so this was very much just actually trying to respond to that, and give people a really fun day out where it’s not going to cost them a huge amount," she added.

Jennifer Bone, one of the event's organisers, said making the activities free was a big priority

Harry Potter is the titular character of author JK Rowling's seven book series, which sees a young boy attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, after discovering he is a wizard.

The series saw massive success, and subsequently spawned one of the highest-grossing media franchises of all time.

Even the town's knitters got involved with the celebrations

Activities across the town included wand lessons, magic shows, and craft sessions.

There were also various animals around the town that featured in the series, including owls and tarantulas.

"It’s been a labour of love, but it’s just so great to see a community pull together," said Westley Bone, also from Shire Folk.

"It was just a small seed of an idea, everybody kind of went 'that sounds like fun, can we be involved?' and it’s just turned into this community, town-wide celebration and party."