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The mounted police led the procession from Herristone Park with the band of the Jewish Lads and Girls Brigade followed by children in fancy dress.

But it wasn't too long before the sun came out and brought back the smiles and a look of relief to the faces of the fun day organisers who had feared a washout.

There were cake and plant stalls, second hand fancy goods, and food from around the world on offer as well as displays by Greater Manchester Fire Brigade and the St John Ambulance.

The popular face painters were out in force but St John Ambulance crews provided a less conventional treat for youngsters by offering fake wound painting at 50p a time.

It was tricky for the fire brigade who were called out a couple of times during the day to attend incidents but popped back to the park to play their part in the fun day.

Glam R Us

Children enjoyed the funfair including some stomach-turning rides and local girls and boys took part in a mock Euro 2000 soccer tournament. Teams adopted the names of the national squads taking part in the real thing and in this version England were victorious.

Tom Sogbetun, of Crumpsall Action Group, which helped organise the event for the fifth year running, was relieved everything had gone to plan and hoped more people would volunteer to help next year.

He said: "It's been great. We had a reasonable turn out considering how bad the weather was at the start. I'd particularly like to thank the Jewish Lads and Girls Brigade and everyone else who turned up for the parade in spite of the rain.

"We were pleased to have MP Graham Stringer to open the fun day and local businesses have been great in providing prizes for the raffle.

"I want to thank the Crumpsall community for coming out and all the people who contributed. We'll be starting to make plans for next year early in the autumn when I hope a lot more people will become involved."

Sophia Azam, aged six, and sister Sobia, aged three-and-a-half having a whirl on the fun fair