PEOPLE living in the Grangetown area of Middlesbrough are gearing up for a musical picnic in the park.

The event took place for the first time last year, but now organisers are hoping it will become an annual occasion and that this year's event will be bigger and better than last year.

More than 2,000 people attended the event at Grangetown Community Park last year and had such a good time they asked organisers to repeat the event this year.

Last week, Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council's licensing committee gave approval.

The event takes place on Sunday, August 26, from 1pm until 9pm, with at least five groups performing different types of music from the 1960s onwards as well as karaoke, Stars In Their Eyes, a performance by a local jazz band and various stalls.

Les Earl, chairman of the park management committee, based at Grangetown Neighbourhood Centre, said the aim of the event was to bring the community together while promoting the park as a community venue for residents.

He said the non-profit making event would be free to all Grangetown residents, regardless of disability or social deprivation.

He said: " It aims to promote community spirit and pride in their neighbourhood.

"Everyone is looking forward to it and the only thing that can stop it now is the weather.

"We want it to be bigger and better than last year and so far everything is pointing that way."

He added: "It means everyone can come together and forget their troubles, even though it is only for a few hours."

He said that social deprivation problems had given Grangetown a bad press in the 1990s.

But since money from the Single Regeneration Budget had been coming into the area and residents and agencies were working together to solve problems, its community spirit was starting to resurface.

"We are starting to turn a corner and are getting back on the road to normality, and this event is one stepping stone towards this," he said.