A VILLAGE will celebrate the 50th anniversary of a community association with a festival full of events and entertainment.

The Hurworth Festival will take place on Saturday, June 15 to mark half a century since the founding of the Hurworth Community Association.

Organisers say the new event is designed to bring all social groups together and further unite the community, while providing a wide range of entertainment and items of interest for all ages.

The event will include live bands, dance troupes, children’s entertainment, a climbing wall, bouncy castle, laser quest, crazy golf, inflatable bungee jump and a penalty shootout with a ball firing machine.

As part of the festival, the Hurworth Strawberry Fair, which used to be a popular annual event, will be recreated by All Saints Church and the Scarecrow Festival will be incorporated.

There will be parking for 450 cars at Hurworth Grange, and the festival will stretch from the Grange to the Otter and Fish Inn.

The announcement comes as Hurworth Parish Council chairman Paul Walters announced he would be standing down after18 months in the role.

Mr Walters joined the council in May 2015 and took on the role of chairman of the Police and Community Together (PACT) meetings.

Announcing his departure, Mr Walters said: “When I joined the parish council, I wanted to make a positive difference for villagers that live in Hurworth and perhaps inspire good people to join the Parish Council themselves.

“By far the most satisfying project was instigating a children’s football pitch at The Grange with a view to Hurworth having its own team. The village now has in the region of 10 children’s teams with a view to expand. It is truly amazing what they have achieved in such a short space of time and a big thank you to the many volunteers supporting them.

“We now have large notice boards at the entrances to the village promoting all suitable events, everyone in the village and through traffic are now informed on what is happening and where which is a great way of ensuring village events are successful and well supported.

“In the next couple of months you will see three beautifully mounted Hurworth entrance plaques welcoming people and promoting our Saxon heritage – I hope residents like the new noticeboards and the forthcoming village entrance plaques in particular.”