THOUSANDS of people from across Stroud District flocked to the engineering and manufacturing events hosted as part of Festomane.

The annual festival returned for its fifth year in a celebration of all the inventive creativity and potential the district holds.

Festomane ran from February 9-15, finishing with a ‘Creative & Innovation Revealed’ exhibition at Stratford Park Leisure Centre.

Marty Jopson, resident scientist on BBC1’s The One Show, brought his sparky ‘Zap, crackle and pop’ electricity show to a close by using static electricity to play music including Darth Vader’s theme tune from Star Wars.

Visitors could land in a helicopter in the middle of a war-torn city by using the virtual reality kit brought by company, Airbus, who use it to test new products before they go into mass manufacture At the UK Space Agency’s stand, children could try on a real-life space suit and see the ‘tasty-looking’ food rations that astronauts eat during their space missions.

More than 300 people enjoyed the wonders of the universe displayed at the pop-up planetarium.

Reactions from visitors included: “Fab day out. Children loved all of the hands on activities; especially the Renishaw table, rocket pump car & 3d printers. Planetarium dome was worth the wait. Thank you for a great techy day!”

“We just had the most brilliant day at the Stratford Park Leisure Centre event and all free of charge. We now have two totally inspired kids – wonderful experiential learning. We loved it.”

One mother said: “It was better than being at the science museum.”

“The one-to-one attention that everyone on the stands gave my daughter means that she’s learnt lots about science and is now inspired by the subject.”

A specially commissioned trail at the Museum in the Park unveiled just some of the ground-breaking innovations which began life in Stroud, including the world's first lawnmower, the adjustable spanner and plastic made from milk.

With the UK experiencing a shortfall of 55,000 qualified engineers every year, Festomane's 'Engineer Your Future' careers workshop held at Wotton-based Renishaw’s headquarters set out to inspire the audience of 100 teenagers and their parents.

They aimed to demonstrate the range of engineering and manufacturing jobs available in the sector, and dispel any myths that it's the domain of oily machines and dirty overalls.