LAST May's 101st Wharfedale Festival of Performing Arts was one of the best and most successful in recent years, according to organiser Liz Sharp.

At the recent annual general meeting, Mrs Sharp said: "There are so many components all working together to create an event which is described by the Baritish and International Federation of Music Festivals as the jewel in the crown of the Federation Festivals'.

"All the platform, adjudicators', house and box office stewards, the scribes, our in-house' caterers and the staff at the Christchurch Coffee Centre as well as all at the Kings Hall, Christchurch, All Saints and the Baptist Church who are all so welcoming and cannot do enough to help us, deserve the highest commendation for their support and commitment.

"Our accompanists, who work so hard for weeks beforehand practising own choices' and whose own performances are second to none, are stars in the Wharfedale firmament and only serve to enhance the fine reputation of the Festival."

The festival kicked of at Riddings Hall on May 12 and finished seven days later after hundreds of performers had given their best performances at different venues throughout Ilkley.

In recent years the festival has tried to broaden its attraction and now includes non-Christian religious readings, Asian music and dance, as well as an X-Factor pop star competition and dancing classes.

Mrs Sharp said: "Especially gratifying is the continued support of inner city Bradford primary schools to the verse-speaking and non-Christian religious reading classes of the Festival, involving as it now does three inner-city Bradford primary schools."

Mrs Sharp said: "The Spooner Trust once again generously gave sponsorship to the Festival, for which we are supremely grateful.

"The Celebration Concert was reinvented in a bid to attract more audience members and prove a lesser drain on our finances, sand it certainly did that in spades."

Holding it at Christchurch on the Wednesday after the final Saturday saw a break with the festival's tradition as it turned its back on the expensive and hard to fill King's Hall.

Mrs Sharp said that the festival had been boosted by strong support from Ilkley Parish Council and major support from the Craiglands Hotel on Cowpasture Road.

"To everyone who put themselves out in any way to oil the wheels and ensure the smooth-running of the week's events I should like to offer a huge thank you," said Mrs Sharp.

She also praised Wharfedale Newspapers for its support of the festival.

Mrs Sharp said: "It has been gratifying in the extreme to learn that many people considered this year's Festival to have been the best ever. I am certain that the standard of performance seems to rise year on year."