A BRIDAL parade spanning more than a century is the theme of a flower festival at a County Durham church this weekend.

St Philip and James Parish Church, at Tow Law, is celebrating marriages of all kinds at the event, which also features a selection of old wedding gowns.

Flowers represent silver, ruby and golden weddings.

Interim minister, the Reverend Geoff Lawes and his wife, Catherine, have loaned the gown she wore for their wedding.

The newest dress in the display dates back two years, when Emma Plumb married John Payne in a brown silk and cream lace. All gowns have been borrowed from people connected with the church.

Children from Tow Law Millennium Primary and the Blessed John Duckett RC Primary have made 29 pew end posies.

Visitors to the festival can look through a list of all 550 weddings held in the church between the Thirties and the last one, in July last year, when Jeffrey Hindmoor married Emma Spencer.

The festival, which ends on Monday, is the sixth held at the church and the fifth to be organised by tutor Norman Deacon.

The church is open tomorrow and Monday, from 10am to 5pm, and on Sunday, from 11am to 5pm.