AN annual flower festival returns to Halstead this week.

Halstead Flower Festival is running from Friday, June 21, until Sunday, June 23, to raise funds for St Andrew’s Church in the town.

The church will be brimming over with innovative and original flower displays depicting scenes based on this year’s theme of ‘saints’.

The event is open from 10am on Friday and Saturday, and from noon on Sunday, closing each day at 5pm.

The church will be open to the public with free entry to see the many displays which have been prepared by a range of people and organisations from the Halstead area, including the Women’s Institute, Halstead in Bloom, flower arranging teams from St Andrew’s Church, and St James’ Church, in Greenstead Green, and all four of the town’s schools.

Last year’s event raised almost £1,000 for the church’s building repair fund and organisers Friends of St Andrew’s Church hope this year’s event will raise even more now that the festival is becoming established.

Emily Hoar, the new owner of Les Fleurs flower shop in Halstead, will also be supporting the event.

Participants have been designing their highly original displays for weeks and have spent the days ahead of the event putting them together.

Many of the town’s businesses are also supporting the event with sponsorship to cover the cost of the flowers being used in the displays.

Any visitors who are interested in taking part in future flower festivals should speak to one of the Friends of St Andrew’s committee members, who will be supervising the event this weekend.