A bumper crowd visited a village festival to watch a display of rare birds and live rock bands, among other attractions at the weekend.

Tony Young, an organiser of the Tasburgh Community Festival, believed over 500 people had visited the festival in the grounds of Tasburgh Village Hall, an increase on last year's figure annual event, which started three years ago.

He said: 'It has been excellent. We have had some very heavy showers, but they have not put people off coming. The numbers have increased from last year.'

The day-long event included six local bands, three soloists and three attractions in the main arena and organisers had to create a third performance area inside the village hall because of all the requests to perform.

A World of Wings bird of prey display team treated a fascinated crowd to glimpses of some rare birds including parrots and African Hornbills, while there were also performances from the Lowestoft Dog Agility Display Team and Dr Ken, who does juggling for children.

Other children's entertainments included a bouncy castle and bungee trampoline while there was also a display of military vehicles.

This year's festival had an Olympic theme to it and organisers arranged for local fundraiser Josh Worley, who will be an official torchbearer, to lead a torch parade through the village.

Mr Young said the festival's organising committee, Recreation for All (RfA), was hoping to raise �3,500 from the free event to pay for new children's play equipment to replace old swings outside the village hall.

RfA chairman Angela Schug said: 'The current toddler equipment is really past its sell by date. It was kindly donated and built by people in the village and it has lasted many years, but it's costly to maintain and only just passes the safety tests. Aside from which children these days need something more challenging to play on.'

Visitors could also tuck into food and real ales from the Tasburgh Social Club Beer Festival.