BOLTON'S annual festival later this month will feature this year's special guests - members of the Bolton community.

The Bolton Weekend Festival runs from Friday, August 23, to Monday, August 26, and is designed to provide entertainment by the public and appealing to the public.

Special guests include The Albion Band, Le Gop, the Presto Puppet Theatre, and Peter Naden and The Honest Truth.

However, highlights of the four day event will include The Bolton Festival Orchestra and Choir, as well as the Victorian Street Fair - being sponsored for the first time by Marks and Spencer. Throughout the weekend, a festival fun fair and children's fair will run in Cheadle Square and Town Hall Square.

And the annual Open Air Art Exhibition takes place from August 22, displaying the variety of artistic talent in the borough.

The event begins on Friday, August 23, at 7.30pm, when The Albion Band takes to the stage in the Albert Halls.

The group is led by the father of British folk rock, Ashley Hutchings, a founder member of Steeleye Span and Fairport Convention. The following day the annual Busking Bolton contest takes place in Town Hall Square, and later that night Bolton Festival Orchestra and Choir is on stage.

Among pieces being performed in the Victoria Hall, at 7.30pm, will be Bruckner's Symphony No 8.

French Gallic and Celtic dance band Le Gop appear on the same evening at Carnegie Hall, Westhoughton, at 8pm.

The Victorian Street Fair, on Bank Holiday Monday, August 26, promises, thanks to M&S sponsorship, to be bigger than ever. Concessions will be provided for stall holders willing to don costume, as well as prizes for the best dressed Victorians.

There are still some stalls available but, because they are going fast, people interested in taking part should contact the Festival Office as soon as possible.

On the same day Presto Puppet Theatre presents "The Firebird and Puppet Cabaret" at the Albert Halls at 2pm.

Dawn Dawson's Bolton Academy of Dance and Stage will be "Putting on the Glitz" from 1pm to 4pm at the Albert Halls. Later, a Country and Western evening of song and dance takes place at the Albert Halls (8pm) when Peter Naden and The Honest Truth take to the stage.

Tickets for all events are available from the Albert Hall Ticket Centre (364333) and more information is available from the Festival Office on 382627.

To complement the Festival Weekend, Bolton Little Theatre will perform Two by Jim Cartwright, from August 24 to 31.

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