Two music festivals will be returning to Preston this summer

Rockprest, which will feature 30 tribute acts performing two stages in Moor Park will run on June 26 and 27, with the Windrush Festival also running on June 27.

Windrush, now in its 9th year, celebrates Preston s multiculturalism and usually attracts people from as far away as Birmingham and Stoke.

Twenty five bands and performers including Stephen Bayliss are being lined up for the Windrush event - just six days after the proposed end of Covid 19 restrictions- but the venue is still to be confirmed.

Windrush Festival organiser Adrian Murrell said: "It's the only positive thing we've had to look forward to all year."

He added: "This festival is about celebrating our elders, and we have lost so many of them in the past year. So we will be acknowledging our loss and celebrating their lives.

"We usually have a minute's silence as part of the event, and usually have a gospel choir performing. But this year I think I'll put a song on that everyone knows, put the words on a screen, and ask people to join in.

"I think there will be a few tears."

Adrian says people are already booking tables for the event "left, right and centre", and expects a sell-out event of 3,500.

He says he is allowed 4,000 people at an event in the open air, as long as precautions such as face masks, no kissing and no hugging are adhered to.

He is also planning to set up a VIP area for the over 80s, where they will get a Carribean meal, drink and t-shirt.

Adrian added: "It's always a great event, we've never had any trouble at it.

"I had one mixed race girl tell me that it's the only place both sides of her family - white and black- are at, and it means a lot."

Tickets for this year's Rockprest, being called The Great Escape, are being offered online from March 12. For more information, click here. Tickets will be charged for this year.

Anyone wishing to sponsor the Windrush Festival is asked to call Adrain on 07545181920.