ORGANISERS of the first Yorkshire Beer and Music Festival are hoping that a recipe of jazz ,blues and booze will bring thousands to Locke Park for the August bank holiday weekend.

The three-day festival is combined effort between Yorkshire Festivals Ltd and Barnsley Campaign for Real Ale.

The former is hoping that jazz saxophanist Snake Davis, along with Jim Diamond, will get the event off to a flying start on the Saturday, with Sunday's line-up switching from jazz to blues with the Steve French Band, Crosscut Saw and Also Jack.

Monday is planned as a family day with children's rides, face-painting, craft stalls and folk music on stage in the beer tent which can hold 1,000 people as well as an indoor stage.

Barnsley Camra say they will offering 75 beers (up to 50 at any given time) together with 25 ciders, wines and soft drinks. Many of the brews featured will be brewed within a 20-mile radius of Barnsley.

Beer tent co-ordinator Jeremy Sykes said: "We have sometimes been criticised for not having entertainment at our beer festivals but the truth was that we have little expertise in that field.

"So when Yorkshire Festivals Ltd. suggested we combined our talents, we jumped at the opportunity.

"All we want now is for good weather and for people to come along and enjoy a good drink with some fine entertainment.

"If successful, we hope that this will result in similar events over a five-year period and that is one reason why we will be considering local residents and ensuring that the music goes off at around 10.30pm on the Saturday and Sunday and earlier on the Monday."