Villagers discovered each other’s hidden talents at an arts, craft and music festival in Hilmarton at the weekend raising money for maintenance at St Laurence Church.

The festival, on Saturday and Sunday, included an art exhibition, a cake decoration demonstration, flower arranging and two concerts from children and musicians.

Val Procter, who serves on the parochial church council, said they are still counting the weekend’s takings to find out how much money was raised.

She is also a member of the Knitti Natters, the village’s knitting group who prepared an exhibition in the school hall. It featured knitted garments using original patterns from 1900 to 2000, including knitted wedding dresses, baby clothes and men’s clothes.

She said: “It was funny because we had borrowed this wonderful pram from a lady in Chippenham and that got such a lot of comments, especially from an elderly lady who said ‘they don’t make prams like this anymore’.

“The idea obviously was to raise money for the church, but it was also to showcase local talent. People have wonderful talents, but they don’t show them off.”