Bury town centre's biggest music festival returned in style yesterday, Monday.
Glaston-Bury, an annual one-day family-friendly music festival which showcases musicians and performers, was in full swing across five outdoor stages and 12 venues.
It has raised more than £300,000 in donations since first launching in 2008, supporting Bury Hospice and other nearby charities.
READ MORE: Mother hits out after swimming pool 'out of bounds' for her daughter
Event organiser, Christopher "Bucko" Buckley, said: “We get good feedback every year and do it raise money for the charities and give a platform to local bands and musicians.
“It started off as a small event in Blind Tiger where I was a DJ at the time, and 17 years later, it’s grown into a much bigger event all across the town.”
Market Square was bustling with pop-up stalls from Andy’s Man Club, the hospice and other vendors.
Manchester DJ and radio host Dave Sweetmore said: “I’ve been coming along to Glaston-Bury for a few years now and always look forward to it. It’s a unique event and raises money for brilliant charities.”
READ MORE: Temporary banking hub opens in town with no banks
The DJ arena was brought back again for its second year due to popular demand and was almost at full capacity by 4pm.
Steven Bainbridge is the manager at Wax and Beans, an independent café record and coffee shop on Market Street.
He said: “We’ve had DJs on site since lunchtime and we’ll be hosting bands later on.
“It [the event] does draw a lot of new people in from outside the area, alongside our regular customers.”
Guitarist Aziz Ibrahim, who has worked with Simply Red, The Stone Roses and Ian Brown and Inder Goldfinger, a regular live percussionist on Ian Brown’s tours drew a large crowd on the Peel Stage.
READ MORE: “Inspirational” headteacher gives up summer holidays to prepare school for new term
The Whitley family from Bury had come along to enjoy the day with their two young children.
Six-year-old Bessie, who was at the festival with her mum Ellie and dad Nick, said: “I liked seeing lots of bands.”
May Shipperbottom, fundraising volunteer at the hospice, said: “It’s been amazing so far.
"The community does some brilliant fundraising for us and the event is well-priced and accessible.
“The organisers do a great job and I love seeing all the families and kids coming along too.”
Paul Blake performed with The Smiths and Morrissey tribute band Viva Morrissey on The Peel stage.
He said: “We performed here last year and loved it so much that we volunteered to come back again this time – it’s all for great causes.
READ MORE: Motorway closure could cause chaos across Bury and elsewhere
“I love Morrissey and The Smiths and have seen them play many times. I noticed that there a lot of tribute bands for The Smiths but not many covering Morrissey’s solo work so decided to do it myself.”
Oasis tribute band, The Ultimate Oasis, performed the final set on the Peel Stage later in the evening.
It came ahead of the Manchester bands announcement this morning confirming that they will be hosting four reunion gigs in Heaton Park next year.
Sophie Cade, programme manager at The Met, said: “This is the first year that The Met has been formally involved in Glaston-Bury.
“As the town’s biggest music venue, we’re now the official ticket partners. We already have a trusted audience here and are excited to team up."
The Met also ran a pilot to host pop-up caterers in the former Automatic Café space, which had been established for more than 20 years when it closed its doors last year.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here