BRADFORD on Avon’s Arts Festival has returned to the town, after a three-year break, with a theme of Flood.

The non-profit festival, to showcase artists’ talents, opened on Saturday night with a sculpture garden at Lynchetts Bed and Breakfast, complete with a living statue.

Bristol-based singer-songwriter James Froud performed at the Swan Hotel on Tuesday, with his blend of storytelling and social comment, and Con Brio Mixed Voice Choir performed that evening at the United Church Hall.

Audiences have until Sunday to take advantage of the hot weather and visit the sculpture garden. Festival committee member Melissa Wishart’s exhibition and a photography exhibition, entitled Clean British Energy, also run until Sunday, at the Fat Fowl, and a photography walk and competition is being staged this weekend in Lamb Yard.

The festival has been organised around a community production of Noye’s Fludde at the Tithe Barn, which is on stage tonight and tomorrow night.
Organisers plan to close the festival on Sunday with a production called The Day After the Flood.

There will be a screening of the animated film Pirates: A Band of Misfits at the Pack Horse Bridge at 3pm, then a barbecue.

All afternoon Jarvey’s Jazz will play by the river, where there will be cream teas, a boat decorating competition and Bristol Shantymen performing.