THOUSANDS of people travelled around the world without having to leave Cricklade High Street during the town’s fourth annual festival.

The hugely successful event saw Caribbean music, Bollywood dancers and wandering ostriches as well as a huge amount of community stalls on offer yesterday.

The theme of the day was Around the World in 80 Days – with many people dressing up in attire from a bygone age.

Doctor Pandemonius Fish and Bertie Beardsley kept the crowds entertained with their humorous take on cold air balloon travel, while many children’s games with prizes up for grabs also went down a storm.

“I liked throwing the balls into the box,” said four-year-old Laila Young, from Addinsell Road, Redhouse.

“I’ve had a good time. It’s been fun.”

Cricklade resident Kate Crow got people to wiggle a board and move a ball along tubes to travel from Alaska to Australia – with bottles of wine the prize if successful.

She said: “There’s a really great atmosphere this year and it really brings the community together. Everyone seems to be joining in and having fun.”

One of the organisers, Nigel Wynne, the chairman of Cricklade Town Festival Committee, said the event had run smoothly.

He said: “It has taken a lot of planning but it’s been fantastic and we’ve had many more people than last year come along. Every year it seems to get bigger.

“Its a very popular day out for families. With a lot of depression in the news lately I think people are looking for a fun time.

“There’s something for everyone. We even had the classic motorbikes for the dads on Father’s Day.”

Volunteers collected money for the Cricklade Rotary Club, which supports a scheme to send supplies to disaster-stricken countries.

Mr Wynne said it would not be possible to stage the festival without donations from local businesses and the support of Cricklade Town Council.

The festival attracted about 4,000 people last year and costs several thousand pounds to stage.