IT rained so long and so hard that one fire engine pumped out 4,000 gallons of water an hour for five hours from a showfield playing host to a vintage vehicle rally.

That was the scene at Preston Park, near Stockton, on the penultimate weekend in June. Organisers had hoped to raise money for the Fire Service National Benevolent Fund.

However, Cleveland Fire Brigade's Young Firefighters Association returned to the park in glorious sunshine at the weekend for the Stockton Summer Show, spreading a fire safety message and selling children-sized replica fire helmets to raise money for the charity.

Stockton Borough Council events officer Derek Batchelor, who was on duty at both events, is expecting bumper crowds for the three-day bank holiday celebration.

He said yesterday: "We are hoping for a good - a very good - bank holiday. Much of it is down to the weather, and it's such a long time since sunshine and a weekend coincided, that people will make the most of it. ''

Main ring events over the weekend included a wild west show. There was a 500-seat Festival Circus, falconry displays and a parachute display team. Charity and craft stalls filled a giant marquee. Today there is medieval jousting.

The young firefighters, along with their instructors, took along with them a miniature fire engine called Little Dennis, and some targets for children to squirt water at through hoses.