FOR former Romsey Mayor, Pam Gale, it started with a moment of inspiration in Romsey Abbey.

“I was listening to the service one evening with sunlight pouring through the windows and I was suddenly struck by the choir’s talent," she remembers.

Pam began to consider the idea of a Romsey festival, celebrating the best creative talent the town had to offer.

Three years later in 1987, the first Romsey Arts Festival was held, with violinist Nigel Kennedy topping the bill.

Today the triennial event has expanded to include music, theatre, dance, artwork, lectures, poetry and even cookery.

Performers and exhibitors arrange their own venues and are responsible for their own finances, with the Festival itself making no profit.

This year the Festival celebrates its tenth incarnation.

The fortnight opens on Friday with a series of art exhibitions including glimpses of the soon-to-be-revealed Warhorse statue for Romsey’s War Memorial Park.

Sculptor Amy Goodman’s preparatory pieces for the work will be on show at Ranvilles Farm, near to the site of the former WW1 Remount Camp where horses were prepared for the Western Front.

Once again the world-famous exhibition by quilters in Romsey Abbey forms the backdrop to some musical highlights, including a series of free recitals from young local classical musicians.

Romsey Folklights have staged a coup by bringing 2014 BBC Radio 2 Folk Award winners Phillip Henry and Hannah Martin to Mountbatten School’s Lantern Theatre.

The same venue hosts the wit and wisdom of Festival favourite Mark Ponsford while Romsey Library is the stage for an evening of intimate theatre from Chester House Productions.

New this year is a chance to take part in a traditional barn dance at the Crosfield Hall on July 9 with caller Nigel Close and the band Pogle's Wood.

For the first time, the Festival will also celebrate the art of food preparation, as some of the town’s best-known restaurants thrown open their doors for a behind-the-scenes look at creativity in the kitchen.

Further afield, St Winfred's Church in East Dean hosts a flower festival and entertainment from Pocket Theatre, while the Romsey Ladies Choir will grace All Saints Church, North Baddesley, for a concert of easy listening music The middle Saturday sees the town alive with the sights and sounds of the annual Beggars’ Fair.