A POPULAR Worcester park will this weekend host what promises to be a spectacular multi-cultural festival of light.

The After Dark In The Park event in Cripplegate Park, off Tybridge Street, St John's, will include a performance by pupils from Christopher Whitehead School.

For the past three weeks, professional dancers from Dance Fest have held workshops at the school to help students prepare for Saturday's festival, which has been organised by The Friends Of Cripplegate Park, a voluntary group that maintains and promotes the park.

Also on the night, the Preying Mantis Martial Arts Society will stage a Chinese Lion Dance - complete with firecrackers - outside the Sons Of Rest building.

There will be seven other groups performing music, drama and singing.

In the run-up to the event, children from Dines Green Primary School, off Tudor Way, Dines Green, have been busy making lanterns that will light up the park.

The park's famous fountain will also be illuminated.

A fireworks display, funded by Worcester City Council, will bring the show to a close.

Admission to the event is free and the whole festival has been funded by a £3,600 grant, awarded to the Friends from the Arts Council.

Linda Sammonds, the Friends' chairman, said: "We have organised several events at the park over the last 18 months, such as the Tree Dressing and Raiders Of The Lost Park, but this will be our biggest and most ambitious.

"We have looked at the way different cultures celebrate light and tried to include this in our own celebration."

The festival is due to start at 6pm and end at about 8.30pm.