The organiser of popular homegrown festival Music on the Marr has described the tenth anniversary of the event as a “stonking success”.

Lifelong Castle Carrock resident Richard Johnstone, who along with 120 others put together the annual Music on the Marr music and culture festival in the village, was delighted at the strength of the turnout.

“In total, we had possibly about 1,400 across the weekend,” he said.

“It was much better than last year in terms of turnout. All in all it was a stonking success.”

The not-for-profit annual venture requires a small army of village residents to put together - about 120 in total.

Richard said the strength of the community spirit in Castle Carrock made Music on the Marr possible.

“Castle Carrock has no trouble coming together to make this all happen,” he explained.

“Quite frankly, it’s one of the most together places I’ve ever encountered. There’s a tangible community spirit here.

“The community spirit here has been described before as something you could bottle.

“Music on the Marr is an extension of the community spirit we’ve got in Castle Carrock.”

Not being a money-making enterprise, Richard said the motivation for organising the festival comes instead from a love of the event itself.

“We like the music, we like the buzz of the festival, and because it helps people to become friends,” he said.

“There’s also a passion there for traditional music, for folk and jazz and blues.

“Traditional music is really people’s life stories, and it’s continuously expanding

“People are expressing themselves, even with the likes of grime and hip hop. It’s the same thing, just presented differently.

“Not that we do too much grime and hip hop at Music on the Marr.

“But it shouldn’t be sneered at, because it’s the folk music of the future. I think people only judge it because they find it inaccessible.

“If you listen to Stormzy, you can hear it, it’s all there. It’s just not quite what you would present at a traditional festival.”