THE FOURTH Barry Arts Festival will be hitting the town this July, with a week long programme of events taking place in venues across Barry and Barry Island.

Following on from the enormous success of last year's festival, this year promises another packed schedule of art, music, comedy, drama and special guests.

Sponsored and funded by Barry Town Council, this year's event kicks off on Saturday, July 18 - opening on King Square, Barry with host Mike Bubbins, stalls to browse and tickets for all events on sale.

Among the confirmed acts on the week long bill so far are Deke Leonard and Son of Man. Former member of Swansea's legendary Man and his own band Iceberg, Deke now performs with the Son of Man, taking the original music of Man and performing it exactly as it should be performed.

Son of Man also features the son of Man guitarist Micky Jones as well as Bob Richards on drums.

Hypnotist Ian Dee will be bringing his comedy show to Barry, his act having been declared one of the UK’s most creative and original hypnotism shows.

Guest speaker Eddie Butler - journalist, author, sports commentator, and former Welsh rugby union player, will be giving a talk at the Little Blue Deli.

Cabaret show All That Malarky will be performing at Barry Island, fresh from a four star Edinburgh Fringe Festival performance and critically acclaimed tour of the UK.

All of this and much, much more will be coming to Barry next month. The full programme and ticket information can be found at www.barryartsfestival.org.uk