WITH excitement building ahead of the return of the Headington Festival its organisers have said they are determined it will be better than ever this year.

The annual two-day event will be held on Saturday, June 3, and Sunday, June 4, and will feature the usual mix of street entertainment, food and craft stalls, music and sports.

With less than two months to go before the event publicity volunteer Peter West said people were looking forward to the festival.

The 72-year-old said: "Preparation has been going pretty well so far.

"One problem we sometimes have is that people sometimes say they are going to attend and then pull out at the last minute.

"So we are trying to make sure most people come.

"People are always asking us how long it is until the festival.

"So far preparation has been very smooth."

Events on the Saturday will run from 10am to 3pm in Headington centre, as well as a fun fair in Bury Knowle Park.

On the Sunday the park will be the setting for all of the day's events from 1pm until 5pm.

The whole festival is free to attend.

Mr West said: "We have a new manager this year, Elsa Bell, who took over from Keith Frayn.

"But Keith has been in the background helping her out.

"It is the same team of people as last year primarily.

"There are eight of us involved in it. The next big thing we have is handing out about 5,000 leaflets and we have also a lot of shops putting posters in their windows."

Stalls this year will include groups such as the NHS and Oxford Brookes, with spaces still available for organisations who want to go along.

Other attractions include a stilt walker, raffle, dance exhibitions, magic, art events and face painting.

Retired consulting engineer Mr West said: "We are trying to make it bigger and better every year.

"It has been going for quite a while and we try to pick it up and move it forward to get more stalls coming in and more events and that sort of thing.

"Everybody is really looking forward to it, it will be a great event."

To register a stall and for more information visit headingtonfestival.co.uk