A LARGE crowd helped to put a new spin on harvest festival when crops are harvested and prayers offered in thanksgiving.

Dating back to medieval times, farmers made loaves of bread from the wheat crop which they presented to churches as communion bread. Some was also distributed to the poor.

More than 1,000 people across Middlesbrough have this year been growing food in unusual places, ranging from school playgrounds and parks to planters.

At the weekend, the harvested food was cooked and eaten by the growers and others in the first Middlesbrough Meal, in the town centre.

The food fest was the culmination of an urban farming project organised in direct response to the global warming concerns of reducing food miles and having a sustainable low-carbon economy.

More than 15 primary and secondary schools, community and voluntary organisations and allotment growers took part in the project.

The Middlesbrough Meal was opened, on Saturday, by town mayor Ray Mallon, and featured 12-year-old Gabrielle Leighton's competition-winning sandwich.

The Hemlington schoolgirl won a sandwich design competition devised by the mima art gallery in the summer.

Her creation of char-grilled vegetables and mozzarella cheese with barbecue sauce in a toasted brown bread bun was made up and distributed to visitors