AROUND 1,500 people packed in to St Chad's Park to enjoy this year's Rubery festival.

The festival was the first major event of its kind in the village since the Rubery carnival in the late 80s.

Saturday's event kicked off with a parade through the village, which featured a marching band, army cadets, members of the Callowbrook Swifts Football Club and a number of other local groups.

Callowbrook Swifts under-16s then took on a team of reporters from the Ruberyvillage.co.uk website in a friendly football match. The afternoon saw the final of the Young Stars in Rubery's Eyes competition, which was organised by Rubery Community and Leisure Centre.

Liberty Maher took first prize in the eight to 11-year-old category with her performance of Olivia Newton-John's Hopelessly Devoted, while Emma Gardener was the star of the 12 to 15-year-olds competition, singing Lucy Silvas' What You Are Made Of.

Visitors also got a first glimpse of the new £140,000 skate park and multi-sports facility, which is set to be officially opened later this month.

Other activities at the festival, which was blessed with sunshine, included archery, bouncy castles, sumo wrestling, donkey rides, face painting and a road show. Julia Partridge, community and development officer for Rubery, said: "It was a fantastic day. The weather was wonderful and there was a lovely atmosphere.

"We had a Rubery Youth Day last year, but this was on a much bigger scale than that."