A DRIZZLY start to the weekend wasn’t enough to stop a sea of colour parade through the streets of Dorchester.

The biennial Dorchester Festival Parade went ahead on Saturday starting at the Corn Exchange.

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Puppets including a 45-foot long seahorse called Percy were on show, capturing the attention of crowds that gathered to watch.

A number of other performers also took part as the parade headed down South Street, round Brewery Square and up to the Borough Gardens.

The parade also featured a life-size War Horse puppet, an outdoor theatre, and bhangra drummers.

Dorchester’s Prince of Wales First School and Weymouth’s Westfield Arts College took part in the event, as did Oak Lodge School in Hampshire.

Pupils at Prince of Wales First School created puppets of characters from William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth and showed them off during the parade.

Sam Johnson, a teacher at the school, said: “We were approached by Dorchester Arts to see if we would like to take part.

“We are doing Macbeth anyway at school and we thought it would be perfect. We were planning to make puppets.”

Pupils took part in two workshops with Bridport-based Stuff and Nonsense Theatre Company to design the puppets.

Mrs Johnson added: “The kids all did them themselves and had a brilliant time making them.”

Mia, 9, a pupil at Prince of Wales First School, created a Lord Macbeth puppet. She said she had been looking forward to the parade.

She said: “It took quite a bit of time to get all the stuff ready.”

Meanwhile, students in the Newton class at Westfield Arts College created puppets paying tribute to a range of characters including Humpty Dumpty.

Penny Hamer, head of art at Westfield Arts College, said pupils had made the puppets out of recycled materials.

She said: “They have been really excited and with these puppets they were so keen to parade them all around the school.”

Mark Tattersall, artistic director at Dorchester Arts, said he was pleased with the parade despite the weather.

He said: “I’m really pleased that people came out and supported us in rather cold and wet weather.

“I think the young people don’t really care about the rain. They just go out and have fun.

“It’s always more fun in the sunshine but people have been fantastic.”

Carl Woodward, who was marking his final weekend as education and outreach officer at Dorchester Arts, said: "It went very well. We were determined to go ahead despite the drizzle.

"I think the kids were really proud of the work they made. It was actually a colourful and vibrant display.

"I think it really is a highlight of the programme."