GATWICK Airport is sponsoring this year’s Crawley Festival for the third year in a row with a week of festivities planned as the town celebrates its 70th birthday.

One of the first events to kick off the festival was Crawley High Street Live which saw more than 3000 Crawley residents attend to enjoy a day of live, free music from local bands and singers in the town’s high street.

Gatwick sponsored one of the music stages as well as a marquee in which free DJ sessions took place throughout the afternoon and evening.

Following the event, a ‘community week’ from today until Friday - sponsored by the airport - has been added for the first time to the Festival programme, featuring musical theatre, folk music and performances from young musicians over four nights.

Gatwick’s head of community engagement Alison Addy said: “We’re proud to be sponsoring this year’s Crawley Festival as part of one of our biggest ever programmes of community engagement this summer.

“As we mark the town’s milestone 70th birthday, the week of festivities promises to be fun for all the family and we look forward to joining the local community in celebration.”

Councillor Peter Smith, Cabinet member for planning and economic development, said:

“I’d like to thank Gatwick Airport for sponsoring our first ever Community Week.”