Stilt walkers, clowns, classic cars and a swing band entertained thousands of people at this year’s Surbiton festival.

Nearly 20,000 people turned out to see the performers whip up a carnival atmosphere at the event, which saw the British Legion band led the Grand Parade march down St Mark's Hill and Victoria Road.

Early birds arriving in time for the 10am opening ceremony were treated to music from swing band the Southern Serenade and a Punch and Judy show.

Towards the end of the afternoon stilt walkers dancing the Samba outside MacDonald’s traipsed between bemused festival goers, while Morris dancers entertained the crowds on the train station forecourt.

Robin Hutchinson, president of cheese club Homage De Fromage based at the Lamb pub in Brighton Road, said: “We got lucky with the weather so consequently we had more people out on the streets and the stalls this year were fantastic.

“It had a real village feel to it and gave the whole area a real buzz, for me this was the best festival yet.”

Surbiton based children’s charity Yorda Adventures human fruit machine drew some of the biggest crowds of the event, on Saturday, September 24, while other stalls including Kingston Mind and the Farmers Market also raised cash for good causes.

Yorda Adventures general manager Laura Smyth said the idea was “adapted” from a stall at Bestival.

She said: “The general public was quite scared of us at first but once people understood what we were doing it really started to take off.

“We raised nearly £300 and a good percentage of that came from the Human fruit machine.”

St Mark’s ward councillor Yogan Yoganathan, who is on the festival committee, said: “In spite of the global gloom and doom 20,000 people came out today to enjoy themselves and have a wonderful time.

“It was a fantastic example of a community coming together for a fun day out that also does a huge amount of good for local charities.

The festival, which is now in its 19th year, is organized by a small committee of local traders, Surbiton Rotarians and residents and supported by Kingston Council.