SENIOR councillors dancing around the town hall and schoolchildren working with an acclaimed artist have continued the Festival of Thrift countdown this week.

Writer Christopher Green has been holding community workshops with his comedy creation Ida Barr throughout the week.

Ida, who has hosted her own BBC radio series, is a music hall star turned hip hop artist who ‘mashes up’ old time songs with current chart tunes.

Senior Darlington Council officials joined in an Ida Barr ‘mash up’ rehearsal ahead of a community performance for the festival.

Mimi Banks, who helps Mr Green deliver the workshops, said Ida went down a storm at Darlington Town Hall.

She said: “We finished off with a hip hop version of the hokey kokey and did a conga through the town hall corridors.

“The councillors really got into it; the whole thing is about celebrating community by getting all these different groups together for a communal sing song and showing how uplifting that can be.”

In other festival events, an afternoon of weaving and twining occupied children Red Hall Primary School who welcomed London-based craftsman Shane Waltener into the classroom.

His speciality is in making striking outdoor art installations out of discarded materials and he helped pupils create a giant piece of art to go on display at the festival.

As well as scores of stalls and performers, there will be plenty of interesting talks delivered throughout the festival, including The Northern Echo’s deputy editor Chris Lloyd who will talk about the Patons and Baldwin factory at noon in the Beehive west meeting room.

He will be followed at 1pm by Darlington-born Susie Stephenson who completed an epic global challenge this year retracing the 1914 Manu expedition by Katherine Routledge, Joseph Pease's granddaughter.

The Festival of Thrift takes place this Saturday and Sunday from 10am to 5pm at Lingfield Point, Darlington.