Chuck Berry, Lulu, Jools Holland and Buddy Guy - famous names who appeared at the Maryport Blues Festival.

As the town prepares for a new festival, Taste of the Sea, it is a chance to look back at an event which put the town on the map.

At its height, the Maryport Blues Festival brought both artistes and members of the public from all over the world.

It was a spectacular festival which commanded some of the top names in Blues.

But above and beyond the sheer enjoyment, the Blues Festival had an economic impact not only in the town itself but in the whole area.

Hotels, B&Bs and camping sites were booked out year after year,as visitors poured into the town.

For the many who could not find a room at the inn, buses were put on to bring people from Workington, Whitehaven, Cockermouth and Carlisle.

But the greatest benefit to the town was the trail

The trail had every pub and club in Maryport being allocated bands so many times a day throughout the weekend.

Punters had the choice of buying day tickets to all events, weekend tickets or just trail tickets which excluded customers from the main stage but allowed them a weekend of pub, club and cafe music.

There was also an outdoor stage, formerly at the bottom of Shipping Brow, a main thoroughfare in the town

On Blues weekend Shipping Brow was so crowded it was impossible to step a foot between bodies.

The stage was eventually moved because, during the financial crises in 2008, when , due to a reduction in numbers, Police deemed the stage unsafe. The Blues committee was told that it would have to pay to have it policed.The decision to move the stage started the end of the festival. The Lifeboat Inn, on Shipping Brow, was the venue for protest meetings and the Solway Trust was formed which was going to bring its own events into town. That appears to now be defunct.

Whatever happened, though, many Maryport businesses and thousands of Blues fans owe a debt of gratitude to Debra and Dave Park and their hardworking committee.