Organisers of last weekend's Ashby Big Weekend said the town's community spirit beat the bad weather at the Bath Grounds.

The event marked its third year in Ashby and around 2,000 people gathered over the two days to see a wide range of musical acts.

But any fears that heavy rain would keep the numbers down were forgotten as the audience did not let it spoil their enjoyment of what has become an annual event.

Ashby's Town Centre manager, Stuart Benson, said the crowd stuck with the acts.

He said: "It was a really, really good weekend. But a lot of hard work went into it. I don't think people appreciate that. 

"There's only a handful of us that put this event on, we have to put the fencing up ourselves, then take it down and stack it up. 

"We worked on it from Thursday on site through to Friday, then running the event on Saturday, and Sunday, then we had to pack the whole site down on on Monday. So it was it was a long five days. We're all volunteers at the end of the day. 

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"There are the three organisations involved in it. Kangaroo, Radar and the Town Council. People have to appreciate what goes on to sort of get this off the ground. 

"But it was all worth it, because it was unbelievable. The audiences stayed with us during some horrendous rain. 

"The community spirit was fantastic - we were worried that we were going to lose the audience. But they were fantastic, they stayed and enjoyed themselves.

"People those big golfing umbrellas and gazebos, and they were just having a fantastic time. 

"Sunday was a better day. The audience figures were about 1,100 on the Saturday, and on the Sunday, it was around 950 around there. But it was all still good."

The event came just weeks after the Town Council completed the purchase of the Bath Grounds, ensuring the venue can continue to host shows such as this.

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Stuart said people got into the occasion with acts such as tributes to Elvis and Showaddywaddy as well as the Ashby Big Band.

He added: "People were up and dancing and enjoying themselves - and meeting new people, becoming friends with the table next to them and that kind of stuff."

Stuart will now report favourably on the event to the next meeting of the Town Council's Events and Entertainment Committee later this month.

But with the council now having a new look following the local elections in May, it remains to be seen how keen councillors are to promote an events calendar for the town.