VOLUNTEERS are busy putting the finishing touches to the artwork for the Abergavenny Food Festival.

Up to 40 volunteers, together with the community arts organisations, Arts Alive, and the organisers have been using their painting, sculpting and textile skills at workshops, held to create the eye-catching designs that hang from the rafters of the Market Hall during the festival.

The theme for this year’s festival decorations is ‘Gardens of Plenty’ and draws on inspiration from the county’s rich heritage of gardens, allotments and seasonal harvest.

Among the colourful decorations that will greet thousands of visitors to the Market Hall are giant cauliflowers, leeks, carrots and pumpkins as well as garden tool, ranging from a rake to a spade.

The workshops, led by designers Bettina Reeves, Susan McComb and Andrea Newton Mills, began last month.

Arts Alive director, Justine Wheatley, said: “We have been having between 30 and 40 volunteers coming to the workshop to help create the decorations, some of which are about four foot.”

“They look amazing and will be put in place on two days before the festival starts on September 21,” she added.