A ROARING start has been made to the campaign to bring a blues festival to Upton.

More than £750 was raised towards the cost of staging and promoting the event during a "blues cruise" on Friday, October 5.

Local blues band the Barflys proved an irresistible draw, with the 150 available tickets selling out in just eight days.

"It was a great success," said Rachel Willoughby, spokesman for the newly-formed Upton Blues Festival Committee.

"There are a lot of blues fans in Upton and we are now starting to look at the bands we might get to come and play."

A similar cruise is planned for spring and another fundraising event will take place before Christmas, although what, when and where is not yet known.

A date has still to be decided for the festival itself, but it will probably take place between the town's jazz festival and the water festival.