IT was an action-packed weekend for the village of Whichford, near Shipston, when African dancers and a charity concert added a touch of spice to the annual flower show.

The dance and drumming troupe, Brekete, have been carrying out a series of workshops in the village, which culminated over the weekend with mask-making last Friday and Saturday in a baby Big Top put up on the village green.

Dancing and drumming workshops also took place on the Saturday and Sunday before a performance as one of the highlights of Monday's Whichford and Ascott Flower Show.

Committee member Barbara Maher said: "It has been wonderful. The workshops have been a huge success and we had a very, very good response from our villagers. Brekete were so warm and gregarious and in their workshops they were so enthusiastic. When they did their final show there must have been a dozen of our villagers drumming with them and probably 15 dancing. It was delightful."

The show itself also proved a big success, attracting lots of entries and a good turnout from the public.

The Baby Big Top also came in for another use - hosting a charity concert last Friday in aid of the Dr Clark Memorial Fund for Kidney Transplantation in Oxford. The concert was arranged by Richard Blencowe after Whichford Pottery owner and village resident Jim Keeling donated a kidney to his son, Adam, after his own failed last year.

Mrs Maher said the concert had been very well-attended.