THE churchyard at St Mary’s Church in Chirk was filled with colour on Saturday afternoon after the Mayday celebrations.

Families turned up in numbers to watch the Maypole dance performed by the Pentre Church in Wales Primary School pupils, before children from the community were allowed to perform their own dances too.

Organised by the St Mary’s Churchyard Group, the event aims to offer a fun family outing for everyone in the town and its surrounding areas.

As well as dances, those in attendance could enjoy refreshments while taking a stroll around the churchyard in the sunshine.

Kath Comerford, member of the St Mary’s Churchyard Group, was pleased to see the effort put into the dance displays by the children.

She said: “We lend our smaller Maypole to Pentre school for practice, then they come down and do a display for everyone – that went really well!

“They did the display on the big pole and it was great. We involved some of the kids from the community too and they all chipped in and had a go themselves.

“A few of them managed to make some great patterns and tangle it all up in their own unique ways so it was really fun.”

The event attracted a large number of families this year, and Kath added that the group were pleased to see how well received the afternoon was by the visitors.

She said: “We have had a lot of people come along this year.

“What we’ve tried to do this year is make it quite cost neutral and make it as cheap as possible in a bid to attract as many people as possible.

“This has allowed us to attract a lot of families and offer them a great day out.

“The Maypole is free for children to have a go at as well as the churchyard hunt, so aside from a few things people have to pay a small amount for like refreshments, it’s all quite a small price.

“Any of the money raised goes to the churchyard, we hold a few events throughout the year.

“What we like to do is get the children out into the churchyard to make the most of it.

“It’s a beautiful place so we like to bring them outside to appreciate it.

“The churchyard hunt we’ve hosted this year in particular has been popular – the children seem to have loved it.”