Shell suits, Lycra, luminous colours and big hair was out in force at the Norfolk Showground this weekend as people gathered for a celebration of 1980s nostalgia at the Reload Festival.

Eastern Daily Press: Reload Festival 2014Reload Festival 2014 (Image: ©Copyright 99PROBS Music Media 2014)

Jason Donovan, Rick Astley, Heaven 17, Five Star, Aswad, Billy Ocean, Kool and the Gang, Sister Sledge and Hot Chocolate were among the stars who helped turn back the clock at the Costessey showground over the past three days.

Thousands of people, many of them who were in their teens when these stars were in their prime, came to remember what they were listening to on their ghetto blasters and Walkmans way back when.

Asked what brought her to the festival, Carrie Gibbs, 50, from Lowestoft, who had come to see The Human League, said: 'It's our music of the 1980s. It's our teenage years. It's just the last summer before we left school and went our separate ways. It's just back to the sort of music we listened to then.'

Rose Fryers, 34, a mother of two from Thorpe Marriott, who came to see Sister Sledge and Jason Donovan, said: 'It's been a really nice atmosphere. Really relaxed.'

Some members of the audience, most of whom appeared to be in their 40s of 50s, dressed as Superman, Bananaman or characters from Rainbow.

Ned and Pamela Dee, both 45, from Milton Keynes, said that last year they went to the Fusion Festival with their daughter, which played music she liked, such as Jessie J.

They said Reload had music for them, and their daughter refused to come. Mrs Dee said: 'We are reminiscing about out childhood. It was a time of no responsibilities, no stress in life.'

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