A CARNIVAL atmosphere came to Darlington as the town’s innovative attitude was celebrated at the Festival of Ingenuity.

Now in its third year, the festival showcases the best of Darlington’s innovators, with major employers from Cummins to Cleveland Bridge and Modus all taking part.

The two-day festival spread itself across the town centre, with stalls and events taking place at the Dolphin Centre, Market Square and the Feethams leisure complex.

The festival’s opening day on Friday focussed on introducing youngsters to engineering, with more than 700 children from schools across Darlington getting hands-on with machinery and computer programs.

Saturday saw the festival open to families and visitors to Darlington town centre who flocked to get involved in some ingenious attractions.

The event was organised by the Darlington Partnership and the festival curator Seth Pearson praised all the agencies involved in its success.

He said: “We are really delighted with it.

“This is the third year and it has grown year on year, and what is really heartening is the amount of effort that the companies have put into it.

“It is amazing the way they have really embraced it.”

Mr Pearson said that the event was a good way to showcase Darlington’s engineering industry and celebrate its contribution to the town.

He added: “We couldn’t do it without them and it is great that they put their time, their staff and their money into this event.”

Mr Pearson also thanked Darlington Borough Council for its support and said he hoped that the festival helped inspire a new generation of the town’s youngsters to consider engineering as a career.

He said: “The most important part of why we turn it into a family festival for the second day is that the biggest influence on a children’s thoughts is their parents.

“We want to get the kids enthusiastic about engineering, but we also want their parents to get enthusiastic and encourage their children to think about it.”

The festival’s principal sponsor, Darlington Building Society (DBS), invited community groups and charities it supports to set up stalls in the Feethams area for the duration of the festival.

Josh Palin, brand director for DBS, said: “It has been really good.

“It is about sharing our space with local groups and businesses and bringing them all together.

“It is great to see everyone from Darlington and people from further afield enjoying themselves and enjoying what Darlington has to offer.”

Jonathan Miller, CIT education leader for Cummins’s Darlington Campus, said the company takes its community role very seriously and was always keen to support events such as the festival.

He said: “One thing that is key for my side of the business as the leader of education is that I am not focussed on recruitment at all.

“We as a business are not saying that you have to work for Cummins - although if people come back to us because they’ve seen us at events like this that is fantastic - but we are encouraging development of engineering and STEM career pathways.

“We are not saying ‘come and work for Cummins’ we are saying consider a career in engineering because you can do it.”