HEROES and villains from the legendary works of Charles Dickens were on show in Ulverston as the annual Dickensian Festival marked the coming of Christmas.

Despite chilling temperatures and snowfall thousands turned out for the festival, which saw the town transformed into Victorian Britain for the weekend.

There was plenty to see and do as locals and visitors got into the festive spirit with dazzling costumes and the famous procession featuring a host of Dickensian characters from Mr Bumble to Martin Chuzzlewit and Fagin to Scrooge.

Now in its twelfth year, the festival has become a firm favourite in the festive calendar and this year was as special as ever.

With snow falling, which added to the Christmas feeling, crowds gathered across the weekend to sample goodies from Victorian food stalls and, as ever, there were costume parades and a period dress competition.

On Saturday evening music lovers sampled An Evening of Gilbert and Sullivan with the Barrow Savoyards and Sunday saw a visit from Father Christmas, an antiques fair, a fairground and a Dickensian quiz.

Festival co-ordinator Peter Winston said: “The weather did put some people off, but it was still a wonderful event as ever and those getting on coaches late on all said how much they had enjoyed it, which makes it all worthwhile.

“Everybody had a brilliant weekend and I would like to extend a huge vote of thanks to everybody who helped organise it and to all the volunteers who helped make the event possible.”