SCHOOL children hit the right note on Saturday as the community came together for the annual DFest.

The Delamere Street Festival included performances by numerous schools, a community art exhibition and dozens of stalls from charities, schools and community groups.

The festival is organised by Reverend George Crowder from St John’s Church, who started it in 2013 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the church.

Since then it has become a popular community event with a church focus, and saw Delamere Street closed off from 11am to 5pm.

“The aim of the festival is to welcome everyone,” said Rev Crowder.

“It is reclaiming the streets for the community in a lovely way. The community love it, and it is a massive event for us as a church.

“Everyone came out for the event, and the attendance was fantastic.

“Some of the church’s neighbours opened up their homes to support the festival, with one person hosting a bar in their garage and another a barbecue in their front garden.”

The festival began with a parade of primary school children, who marched up the street and around the church grounds before performing on a stage.

They were introduced by Winsford town mayor Cllr Mike Kennedy, who spoke warmly of the importance of the festival and St John’s before opening the event.

There were performances by Oak View Academy, Over Hall, Over St John’s and Willow Wood Primary Schools and Winsford Academy, which took place over the day.

There were also performances in the church by choirs from Over St John’s and Leftwich Primary Schools, as well as the Vocel community choir.

The festival also saw the launch in the church of a community art exhibition, which is to continue until the end of August and is based on theme of ‘God welcomes everyone’.

The street was a sea of 27 stalls run by schools, charities and community organisations, and Rev Crowder thanked everyone who supported the festival in helping with the organisation, on the day, those who took part and the community for coming along to help make it another memorable occasion.