MANY new features at Ludlow Festival this year show that, after nearly half a century, the event still has the capacity to surprise and excite.

The festival is using South Shropshire Leisure Centre in Ludlow for the first time for a series of events that will make full use of the biggest indoor arts venue in town.

The centre will debut on the festival circuit with a Latin Salsa Night on July 3.

The next night it will be the turn of Bob Geldof, equally famous for his charity work in Ethiopia and his days as a Boomtown Rat.

A week of events at the centre continues with the Boys of the Lough and their brand of traditional music, followed by the Mugenkyo Taiko Drummers from Japan.

The venue's programme also includes a live show by the comedian and writer Linda Smith and the Celtic sound of the Corrz, a tribute version to The Corrs. The week ends with newsreader Sir Trevor McDonald in conversation with Anthony Howard.

The festival's traditional venues are not left out. St Laurence's Church plays host to the Opera Babes, whose first album Beyond Imagination spent nine weeks at number one in the UK classical charts. There will also be a candle-lit performance in the church by the 18th-Century Concert Orchestra.

Clarinettist Michael Collins, one of the most sought-after wind musicians of his age, gives a concert with the Orchestra of St John's.

The traditional organ recital will be by Andrew Lumsden, director of music at Westminster Abbey. In the final week, the Guillami Quartet will give a lunchtime recital of music by Mozart and Shostakovic.

Any novel by Beryl Bainbridge is an eagerly awaited event. On June 26 she comes to Ludlow Assembly Rooms with the satirist Richard Ingrams for an evening about the life and times of Dr Johnson.

Two nights later, Esther Rantzen brings her new show, That's Life!

There are also walks, talks and coach tours by Peter Purslow, Cheryl Johnston and local historian David Lloyd. Full details are in the brochure, out next month.