The Alton Arts Festival provided incredible audience experiences, workshops and exhibitions and was described as “just what Alton needs”.

It started on the evening of July 5 with two sold-out musical performances, with LYR – featuring poet laureate Simon Armitage and local Grammy-nominated songwriter Richard Walters – performing at the Assembly Rooms, while Opening Night at the Opera took place at Chawton House.

The weekend continued with live music at Goldfinch Books, St Nicholas's Church, the Church of St Lawrence and Holybourne Theatre, art and writing workshops at Alton Community Centre, the Allen Gallery and Jane Austen's House, a literary discussion among top crime writers at Alton College, and comedy at the Alton Maltings Centre.

Comedian Arthur Smith invited his audience in early to watch the penalty shoot-out in England’s European Championship quarter-final victory over Switzerland.

At the Public Gardens on July 6 community groups invited families to take part in creative activities, such as Alton Art Society’s mega community canvas now on display in the town.

Festival music lead Richard Walters performed accompanied by illustrator and author Chris Riddell. Richard wrote a few songs about Alton before the event - inspiring some beautiful drawings - and also wrote one on the spot, inviting audience members to challenge his lyrical ability and Chris's artistic interpretation!

Audience member Hana Rhodes said on Facebook on July 7: “I just sat there this afternoon and thought about how lucky we are. What a wonderful town Alton is, with people who care about it enough to put on an arts festival over a week and a half with 60 events in 16 venues across multiple disciplines. No mean feat with volunteers and gifts making it happen. What a brilliant Sunday afternoon.”

The week continued with a performance by the Alton Fringe, laughs aplenty from FunnyBones comedy, and arts and literary workshops and fun.

Goldfinch Books had a second visit by Laura Bates, in discussion with Patrice Lawrence about representation in books for children and teenagers.

There were exhibitions in the windows of M&Co, Goldfinch Books, Alton Library, Alton Town Council and Dill, inside and outside the Allen Gallery, and at Alton Community Centre, Cassidy's and The George.

Visual arts lead Jackie King curated exhibitions including photography and sculpture.

Black and white photographs by local students on the theme 'Perspective' were hung throughout the town as part of a school and college photography exhibition.

Alton College created a display entitled It's My Life, including 154 yards of painting from 11 schools, a hanging ice bell over a bleached reef to represent climate change, and a crocheted coral reef created by Alton residents.

On July 11 the Alton Community Art Exhibition took place in the community centre.

Alton U3A members showed stitched, craft, creative writing, local history, painting, photography and art appreciation work, accompanied by live music from the piano and ukulele groups.

There was also an exhibition from Alton Community Association's Leisure Art for All groups, taught by Maggie Coles.

There were also colourful, wildlife-friendly gardens created by schools, and story-themed sculptures created by the community as part of the festival's Street Stories Art Trail.

The festival closed with a six-hour Party in the Park at the Public Gardens on the afternoon of July 14, featuring live music and a tea dance, to celebrate everything it had achieved.