THREE days packed with Irish music and set-dancing in Basingstoke attracted dancers from far and wide.

Dancers flew in from Denmark, Germany, France and Ireland to take part in the fourth Basingstoke weekend dedicated to dancing as many different sets as possible.

Workshops and ceilidhs were held at the Irish Centre and Carnival Hall, both in Council Road, accompanied by the merry tones of Irish band, Triskell, with the help of teachers Padraig and Roisin McEneany, from County Louth, Ireland.

The annual event is organised by dancing partners Carol Gannon and Kevin Monaghan, who run weekly classes at the Irish Centre, on Thursday evenings.

Miss Gannon, 50, said: “It was absolutely brilliant and the atmosphere was something special. The band and teachers are neighbours in Ireland so there’s a great rapport, and we had about 100 to 150 people in each session which is pretty good.”

The couple, who met through dancing 12 years ago, were inspired to organise the event after attending a similar weekend in Manchester.

Miss Gannon, who has lived in Basingstoke most of her life, said: “People like to come to us because usually, when you go to ceilidhs, you get seven or eight dances which are danced all the time and, if you go to a weekend, you might dance one dance 17 times.

“But we try to do as many different dances as we can with fantastic live music. There was a really intimate atmosphere.”