MENTAL health was the focus of an annual festival held in Basingstoke yesterday which featured music, dance, and theatre.

All in the Mind Festival is the leading outdoor mental health arts festival in the UK, and it returned to Glebe Gardens in Basingstoke on Saturday.

The annual, one-day event featured music, dance, spoken word, and theatre, themed around mental health.

Those attending the family friendly festival also had the chance to take part in creative activities, enjoy interactive installations and craft.

Run by arts charity Fluid Motion Theatre Company, the event which was in its sixth year was free to attend, with five performance spaces dotted around the park.

It offered people the chance to celebrate how the arts can improve mental health, try out new and innovative ideas, and come together as a community.

Speaking before the event, artistic director Leigh Johnstone said: “The last 18 months have been challenging for all of us and it’s so important that we take part in events again that make us happy.

“A lack of human contact can be detrimental on people’s mental health and wellbeing, so the team have been working hard to be able to host the festival in person again this year, it fits perfectly with the reason we started All in the Mind in 2016.”