SPRINGTIME was celebrated by children from the city's Russian school at the traditional Maslenitsa festival in Trafalgar Square.

Youngsters from Worcester's Rubric Russian School, which meets in Perdiswell, took part in the large-scale cultural event which featured entertainment, children's shows and Russian traditional dancing.

Kirsten Campbell-Ferguson. from Barbourne, took to the main stage in traditional dress to sing with winners from Eurovision and Voice Russia after winning first prize in the Stars of Albion competition.

The big cultural event is organized every year in Trafalgar Square under the patronage of the Mayor of London Boris Johnson and the Russian cultural organizations Russkiy Mir and Rossotrudnichestvo.

Its origins are Slavic pagan with the ancient spring rituals combined with the Russian Orthodox Christian pre-Lent celebrations.

Nadezhda Loginova, the headmistress of the West Midlands Rubric schools including Worcester, said: "We all had a very exciting and busy day in London, supporting the performers from our schools in the children’s pavilion.

"One of them, Kirsten Campbell-Ferguson, had a chance to sing on the main stage alongside Eurovision and Voice Russia winners.

"She really enjoyed the whole experience.”

During the festival, Trafalgar Square was transformed into a large entertainment zone with market stalls set up around the square selling traditional Russian food including blini pancakes, pelmeni dumplings and borscht beetroot soup.