Olympic star Beth Tweddle was guest of honour when Neston hosted its 200th annual Ladies Day Walk.
Bunting and flowers lined the streets to celebrate the historic parade on Thursday, June 5.
Also marking two centuries of Neston Female Society’s Ladies Day parade was an anthem – On Ladies Day – which was composed and recorded by local schoolchildren.
The song is on sale on CD and the track will be made into a video with photographs of Neston Ladies Day and the heritage project.
Community groups, local organisations, schools and local authorities have all joined forces with Neston Female Society to celebrate the 200th Anniversary of Neston Ladies Club Day.
The centrepiece of the event, the procession, from the Malt Shovel on Liverpool Road, and the day included a wide range of activities such as a heritage project put together by Neston-based contemporary arts provider, Hip & Harmony Community Interest Company (CIC), funded by Neston town council and Cheshire West and Chester council.
The new Mayor of Neston, Cllr Janet Griffiths, along with other invited guests, including Beth Tweddle and more than 200 children and around 60 adult members of the Female Society, took part.
There was also a flower stave workshop on the night before Ladies Day to allow people to make their own staves using traditional methods.
Award-winning local amateur dramatics society, the Neston Players, had also written and produced a play to celebrate the bicentenary – A Walk Through Time (1814-2014).
Carrie Spacey, from Hip & Harmony CIC, said: “Elements of the heritage project have been organised to dovetail with the event itself so that everyone can enjoy the anthem, bunting, exhibition, brochure and play.”
The parade made its way to the Parish Church, then to the Cross in Neston town centre where a service took place, including the singing of the National Anthem.
Afterwards, the parade continued down the High Street and up Chester Road to the Civic Hall, where tea is served and the Neston Female Society AGM took place.
Earlier, members of the current Neston Female Society Committee laid flowers on the graves of some of the founder members of the Society, in honour of the 200th anniversary.
