More than 500 people quite literally burned their bad news at the Pyre Parade in Ipswich on Saturday night.

The event forms part of art and culture days, run by SPILL Festival, and is to help people clear their woes before winter. The festival ends on Sunday evening.

In the lead-up to SPILL, people wrote down their worries and placed them in an effigy, which was carried noisily from Ipswich Waterfront to Christchurch Park on Saturday night.

Robin Deacon, artistic director of SPILL, said the parade with over 500 people attending is becoming an "Ipswich tradition".

The mix of art and adventure has music, art installations and interactive events. One of those, the Luminarium, had to close on Sunday because of the weather.

Mr Deacon added: "I’ve been blown away by the public response to SPILL Festival, particularly their responses to the public art projects, and how they responded to seeing art on the street and in some well-known, yet unconventional Ipswich spaces.

"Making art that is accessible and engaging for people to see and enjoy as a part of their everyday lives is such an important part of SPILL’s aims and ethos.

“So much work and planning goes into making this festival. I’d like to shout out not only to the artists, but also to all those in the SPILL 'engine room', who work so hard behind the scenes to pull it all together.

"Thank you to our SPILL staff and volunteers, our tech crews and venue helpers, and to all the producers who make each event happen. It’s so important that their great work is fully acknowledged.

“I’m pleased to say it went really well. And after postponing the festival for a year because of the pandemic, it felt even sweeter to pull it off after the long wait we’ve all had.”

The festival also was a chance to show off local artists with one-third of all artists either local to Suffolk or East Anglia.

Mr Deacon said: "This festival is also the springboard for whatever comes next, and we’re already looking ahead at how we will build on the successes of SPILL, within and across the cultural communities of Ipswich."

He said they hoped SPILL will return in 2022 and they will let the public know more details early next year.