Scenes of bygone Christmases were recreated when hundreds of shoppers braved the rain and flocked to the Victorian Market held in Bradford at the weekend.

Visitors mingled with a variety of stalls - ranging from jewellery, hand-made arts and crafts, high quality confectionery and speciality foods to Christmas trees - as they shopped for presents and Christmas goodies.

For children there was a variety of fairground attractions including a helter-skelter, carousel and even a synthetic ice-rink.

Many of the stallholders were in traditional Victorian costume as they served shoppers and created a feeling of ye olde times and brought a whiff of simplicity to the normally hectic festive period.

Janet Stringer, who runs the Dickory Dock Designs stall, said: "Most of the things on my stall are hand-crafted and I love bringing them to the markets. This one in Bradford has a lovely atmosphere.

"It is good that you can get things here that you don't find elsewhere."

Market organiser Vanessa Mitchell from Bradford Council said: "The whole idea of the Victorian market is to attract people to the city centre.

"Despite the weather, it has been a successful event and this is only the second year that it is running the whole weekend.

"You really get the feel of Christmas with the brass band and we are definitely looking at ways to make the market bigger and better.

"We are thinking about making it start on a Thursday evening and go on later in the evening as it looks so pretty with the lights.

"Also we are considering more entertainment. But as usual, it is a question of finding the money to do so."

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