RETAILERS in Peebles aim to expand an annual festival to incorporate more parts of the community.

Peebles Business and Retailers Association staged a shopping-orientated festival in the town for the first time last year.

This year’s gathering – on Saturday, May 25 – aims to be bigger and better.

The association has submitted an application to a meeting of Chambers Institution Trust, when it meets on Thursday, April 18, to use the town’s Burgh Hall Courtyard as a performance space for a school choir and pipe bands.

A submission with the application says: “We are making it a community festival rather than just a shopping festival.

“We have invited the local schools to get involved in singing and would love to offer them a safe place for them to sing and for their families and friends and visitors to the town to enjoy their performance.

“We would love it if we could use the courtyard in front of the Burgh Hall for the school choir and potentially the Silver and Pipe bands.”