THE Captain Cook Birthplace Museum (CCBM) is set to play host to a celebration of vibrant Polynesian culture at the weekend.

The Pacific Islands Festival focuses on many of the indigenous cultures which would have been observed by Captain Cook himself on his voyages around the Pacific.

The event is an annual gathering held by Pacific Islanders now living in the UK, across Europe and beyond.

This year the festival will be brought to Middlesbrough’s CCBM by a variety of performers on Saturday, July 30.

Local Maori performing group Aloha2Aroha have travelled across Europe to attend the festival over the past few years, and this year they jumped at the opportunity to bring the festival home to the North East.

The museum’s education officer Jenny Phillips said: “This is a wonderful opportunity not only to put the Birthplace of Captain Cook on the map, but to understand more about some of the vibrant cultures encountered by Cook on our own doorstep.”

The event, runs throughout the day at the museum in the town’s Stewart Park, is free to visitors.