A town shone bright when the first light parade of its kind was held to illuminate the run-up to Christmas.

A procession of more than 300 lanterns went through the centre of Dover on Saturday as the finale for the Winter Light Up event.

It went from Pencester Gardens to the Ladywell car park via Castle Street and the precinct.

Those leading it included town mayor Gordon Cowan and Cllr Trevor Bartlett, leader of Dover District Council.

The lead lanterns had images of a fox, a deer and two birds – a little egret and a chough, a form of crow re-introduced to Dover for the first time in 200 years.

The day also included a Christmas Market, with activities including pottery workshops by Ceramic Art Dover.

Meanwhile, Dover Pride delivered live entertainment featuring Miss Lilli Berlin, drag queen Emma Panda and drag king Gavin Alarrf.

The procession was organised by the town arts group Future Foundry and the day overall was organised by Dover Town Council, Dover District Council and the tourism group Destination Dover.

Lisa Oulton, director of Future Foundry, said: "We are over the moon at the fantastic response to the event, and the lantern builds.

"Most importantly, thank you to everyone who came to carry their lantern through the streets and create the procession."

The animal lantern images were created by Ms Oulton plus Freyja Crow, Frazer Doyle and Amelia Johnson and were based on illustrations by Greg Stobbs.

The success of the day means that Dover Winter Light Up is planned for a return on December 3 next year.