WOMEN’S contribution to music and the church will be at the centre of an upcoming festival.

The Ethelflaeda Festival, at Romsey Abbey, is a chance to pay tribute to its patron saint and is now in its fourth year.

The event runs from October 18 to October 21 and will focus on the way in which women across the centuries have influenced and contributed to music and the church.

It will include a special tour with an all-female choir and a guided history of the abbey focusing on what women have brought to the table.

A schools concert will gather together the very best of the talents of young people in the town.

A Youth Fest is to be held on Thursday October 18, from 6pm to 7pm, which celebrates with more than 100 children from Romsey primary schools, Romsey Youth Choir and A Youth Festival Orchestra.

The following day Rev Dr Miranda Threlfall Holmes, acting Principal of Ustinov College in Durham, and a highly regarded expert on the place of women in the church throughout history, will deliver a lecture on Feminism and Faith, from 7.30pm.

Saturday October 20 will involve a celebratory full peal of bells at the abbey, from 9am to 1pm, alongside a day conference exploring the life of early nuns in Romsey between 900 and 1120, from 9.15am to 4pm.

Then there will be a musical tour of the abbey from 7.30pm.

On its final day, October 21, there will be a festival eucharist at 10am then a choral evensong and procession at 6.30pm.