ORGANISERS are looking ahead to next year's Buckley Jubilee, following this year's successful event.

The 163rd annual occasion, organised by 11 churches in the town and the surrounding areas, took place on Tuesday afternoon.

Despite poor weather, hundreds of members of the organising churches turned out to march through the town, accompanied by the Royal Buckley Town Band the Cambria Band.

Jackie Davies, secretary of the Buckley Jubilee Committee, told the Leader: "It was a bit wet, but not as wet as it was two years ago.

"I thought it was a good turnout for the procession, there were probably more than three hundred people taking part.

"It was good to see people come out to support it and we are now looking ahead to next year."

One of the churches taking part was Ebenezer Baptist Church, Buckley.

Pastor Richard Orrick joined the church just over a year ago and was too late to join last year's jubilee, but said he was delighted to be able to join this year.

He said: "We said we'd love to be involved and we really enjoyed it.

"We had a great group from our church taking part despite the rain.

"There was a really good, positive atmosphere overall and it gave out a lot of encouragement to our community."

Pastor Orrick, from Missouri in America, moved to Buckley with his wife Melissa, son Briton and daughter Isabella.

The church held a celebration over the weekend to mark their first year.

A group of visitors from Canton Bapist Temple in Ohio attended to join the celebration and stayed for the jubilee.

Pastor Orrick added: "They contacted us before the New Year to say they wanted to be part of our anniversary here and they were very excited to participate in the jubilee."

Speaking of his first year in the town, he added: "The church is going really well and we love it.

"We have been very well received by the community we've been really encouraged by the response and attendance and things have been going great."