MORETON is gearing up for a three-week celebration of art, literature and culture which is returning to the town for a second year.

Following the success of last year's event, Moreton Art Weeks is taking place from Saturday, July 5 to Saturday, July 26 and this year includes more events and venues along with the historic exhibition, Heroes of Moreton: We Remember Them.

The exhibition, which runs from Saturday, July 12 to Friday, July 25 in the Redesdale Hall to commemorate the Moreton and Batsford Men who fell during the First World War.

There will also be a range of talks, poetry readings and musical evenings during the two-week exhibition which will be opened by the new Chairman of Cotswold District Council, Councillor Clive Bennett.

Social and military historian, Neil R Storey, one of the experts in the new series of the BBC’s Who Do You Think You Are? will offer advice on family mementoes on Thursday, July 24 from 2pm to 5pm and will be launching his new book, The Tommy's Handbook at 4pmthe following day.

Also new this year is the Food Art Trail where local food shops and restaurants have created a host of dishes inspired by famous artists.

Kit Havelock-Davies, Chairman of the Moreton Business Association and Art Weeks organiser, said: "We've got more events this year than last year, it's definitely grown. We wanted it to be a more inclusive event.

"The initial concept of it was to help bring more people into the area. We did that last year with the galleries. This year we wanted to expand it into a more culture-based event.

"We've got a whole range of things from entertainment, to literature, to arts to good going on at the same time."

Again this year, art galleries, antique dealers and designers have teamed up and will host exhibitions in shops and galleries around the town and will hold a late night opening from 6pm to 8pm on July 12.

Other highlights include a series of book events run by Richard Kemp, owner of Books Yule Love, in The Swan Inn, one-day workshops in the Moreton Area Centre run by Adult Education in Gloucestershire and a display of war recruitment posters in the Inn on the Marsh, Stow Road.

The Lord Chamberlain’s Men will be performing an al fresco production of Romeo and Juliet in Batsford Arboretum on Thursday, July 10 with a schools’ matinee at 1pm and an evening performance at 7pm.

For more details, visit moretonarts.com.