THE TREVOR Arms in Marford hosted MARFEST 5 over the Bank Holiday weekend and it proved to be a massive success attracting almost 1,500 guests.

The change in format to make it an event for primarily Tribute Bands proved to be a masterstroke by their owners Mohan Kuhananthan and Raqia Bibi.

The event kicked off with an Ed Sheeran act and he achieved much acclaim. Paul Henson followed and then getting the warmest of welcomes and a popular choice was a Rihanna tribute act who certainly strutted her stuff.

A tribute to the Gallagher brothers was provided by Oasisn’t and closing the Saturday show were the Stereosonics.

The warmer weather on the Sunday attracted an even bigger crowd and the standard of the artists were once again of the highest calibre. The Gogs, The Dinosaurs and 32 Red got everyone in the mood for the headline acts which came in the form of a Little Mix tribute group and a tribute to Freddie Mercury and they didn’t disappoint.

Adam Aaron, Manager at The Trevor Arms spoke to The Leader about just how successful the weekend was.

“It was an absolutely fantastic weekend filled with some great acts, a big turnout and brilliant weather.

“It was a big party really, we had 17 acts, lots of food and everybody seemed to have a really good time.

“It really shows how big this event has become over the years; it was our highest turnout ever this year. Everybody local knows how fun it is now, they know we’re going to put on a good show with good acts, so they tell their friends and all in all we got an amazing attendance.

“This is the first MARFEST that I’ve been a part of, but I have to give major credit to two of the other managers here, Benu and Jodin, they work so hard to pull this event together, organising acts and food and everything else. It was fantastic to be a part of it this year so I can only imagine how proud they must have felt after the success of the event.

“We’re definitely going to do another MARFEST next year and we hope it’ll be even bigger and better than what we managed to achieve this year.

“We’re thankful to everyone who turn up and had a good time at the weekend and we hope that you’ll all join us again next year and every year.”