ENTREPRENEUR Paul Salter is hoping to turn the Skylark showground at Manea into a festival venue to rival Newmarket Nights.

And he’s pledged that should he succeed he will only be bringing “good wholesome family entertainment” to Fenland.

Mr Salter, fresh from organising last weekend’s rock and motorbike festival, is hoping the showground could attract “the likes of Sir Cliff Richard, Tom Jones, and Daniel O’Donnell. Quality acts that can command crowds of 5,000”.

He said he would not be going “anywhere near rave type events, and nothing of that ilk. But now that Skylark is s festival venue its opened up new doors for us.”

His comments came after a predominantly successful weekend save for the late withdrawal of an HGV parade on Sunday which left a gaping hole in the event programme.

But the bands side of the weekend proved spectacularly success “with local bands, Wastelands and Quantam receiving standing ovations” he said.

“Oliver Dawson Saxon went down a storm with the fans on the Saturday night and tribute band, Quo-Incidence, who topped the Friday bill, really rocked the socks of their audience.”

Mr Salter added: “Especially excellent were the many local bands that performed during the days and nights on the festival stage.”

There was a strong gathering of bikers at the show, with classic bikes from the Wisbech and District Motorcycle club taking up a sizeable chunk of the display area.

“Trade stands included Mercheford Motorcycles from March who put on an impressive stand of classic and customised machines,” he said.

Several charities were invited along to raise cash including the Kisses4Kids charity which raised just under �300. Their stand featured a number of Walt Disney characters.

“It was a good result for us and we had a fab time,” said their spokesman Sharon Johnson. “We will be back in September for another show and will be bringing some different characters such as Kung Fu Panda and Eeyore.”