CROWDS flocked to Weymouth Beach over the bank holiday weekend as kites of all shapes and sizes hit the sky.

Weymouth Kite Festival, organised by the Community Kite Group, battled ahead despite the damp start to put on a number of displays and competitions.

After practice flying on Saturday, two full days of displays were scheduled to take place on Sunday and Monday.

This included an altitude sprint, a dual line pair demo, single-liners, a trick-out competition and a dual-line mega team demo.

Despite the strong winds and occasional showers of rain, Michael McManus, director of the Community Kite Group, said he was happy with this year’s festival overall.

He said: “You can’t predict the weather. If we break even, I’ll be chuffed to bits after the weather we have had.

“The feedback has been absolutely fantastic. We have had lots of new kites. We’ve had trophies for the best kite and the people’s choice.

“We’ve obviously interacted with the crowds to get them to pick.

“The weekend I would say we would have touched 20,000.

“The beach has been heaving and the promenade has been full.”

Trophies were presented at festival HQ - the double decker bus parked on Monday afternoon, which saw volunteers rewarded as well as participants.

Mr McManus said: “I had two trophies made for Diane Moore and Lex to say thank you very much to them.

“They’ve done absolutely fantastic.

“My guys, the volunteers here, have been absolutely amazing. I couldn’t have asked for more loyalty from them.”

This is the second year the event has been organised by the Community Kite Group, which stepped in to save the festival after Weymouth and Portland Borough Council withdrew financial support.

This year’s Kite Festival kicked off on Saturday with a mobile bungee jump based next to the Clock Tower.

There were 23 daredevils who took part on the day but Mr McManus said he had hoped for more.

He said: “There were 120 down to do it. We lost 22 due to health reasons. Then 75 of that 98 let us down.

“We only had 23 jumpers but they had a fantastic time.”

Mr McManus said plans were already in place for next year’s event, including having a reverse bungee jump attraction.