COLLECTORS flocked to Ludlow for a two day antiques festival.

The event was staged at the town's racecourse with nearly 50 stall holders.

People came to the event to buy, sell and browse with a diverse range of antiques on offer.

There was furniture, jewellery, musical instruments - even antique walking sticks and canes as well as sword sticks, courtesy of dealer Christopher Galloway.

His fine collection included a sword stick from the 1850s. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, walking sticks were part of the customs and style of the man about town, a fashionable accessory rather than the modern day crutch or support. Being worn, rather than carried, it was an attractive object with which to swagger, posture or pose.

Today it's specialist dealers like Christopher who keep the interest alive in these objects.