More than 2,000 attend Newbury Waterways Festival

More than 2,000 people joined a Norse invasion of Newbury at the weekend’s Waterways Festival.
The spectacle is a chance for Newbury to showcase its heritage as a canalside town and draws visitors from across the region.
A colourful flotilla of boats decorated for this year’s Viking Invasion theme began arriving on Friday for the annual event, organised by the Kennet and Avon Canal Trust.
The pleasure boat Jubilee, with Viking shields along its side and a figurehead, ran pleasure trips all weekend.
Visitors queued in the blazing sun for a chance to see inside some of the narrowboats, decked out in their finery, including some available for holiday hire.
The atmosphere was festive in Victoria Park, with a children’s funfair, land train, stalls, food and music once again provided by local saxophone quartet Group Sax.
The festival concluded with the traditional duck race when more than 1,000 plastic ducks floated down the canal to win their sponsor a prize.
Kennet and Avon Canal trust chairman Rob Dean said: “The idea of the festival is simple – to remind Newbury of its heritage as a canal town.”