In pictures: Heysham's first-ever Viking Festival

The first-ever Viking Festival in Heysham attracted 7,000 people and was judged an '˜amazing' success by organisers.
There were battle re-enactmentsThere were battle re-enactments
There were battle re-enactments

Organised by Heysham Neighbourhood Council the Heysham Viking Festival celebrated 1,200 years of Viking heritage.

There were battle re-enactments, a living history encampment, weapons display, combat competition, a fairground and food stalls.

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Viking warriors demonsrated weapons, there was acting, a battle and the chance for children to test themselves against the warriors.

There were battle re-enactmentsThere were battle re-enactments
There were battle re-enactments

There was a hog roast and Viking party with Serpentyne playing in the Royal Hotel and on Sunday warriors pitted themselves in single combat against others to become the Heysham champion.

Organiser and chairman of Heysham Neighbourhood Council, Peter Whaley said: “It has been so successful and for the first festival to have the good weather was brilliant.

“We had no clue what we were up against or how many people would be interested in a Viking festival.

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“The Viking living history encampment drew a lot of interest as did the battles.

There were battle re-enactmentsThere were battle re-enactments
There were battle re-enactments

“Every cafe in the village praised the festival and said they had never had a weekend like it.

“Even with the food concessions on the field the cafes were extremely busy.

“The pub was pretty much down to the last barrel of beer and even the cricket club which opened up

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during the day made a good profit. The general feeling throughout is that there needs to be another festival.

“The idea was floated around four years ago with the ex-landlord of the

pub and we were approached by Nova Solar who had some funding for a community event.

“I brought the Viking idea from the back boiler to the front burner I organised the event with head Viking Terry Harvey Chadwick with a lot of volunteers and a lot of help with social

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media including Facebook and Twitter which contributed to it being such a successful event.

“We have never done a festival where the public have been so interested and interactive.

“Local schools got involved as well.

“Chances are we will have another festival next year – it will only get bigger!”

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