Festivalgoers will be first in Britain to greet the new dawn

What better way to mark midsummer than staying up all night dancing in the sand dunes then greeting the dawn in Britain's most easterly town?

- Sarah Phillips

This is how locals and visitors in Lowestoft, Suffolk, were to be spending the solstice at First Light, a free arts festival now in its fifth year, which runs for just over 24 hours, with a few brief breaks for sleep.

About 40,000 people were expected at the event that featured an eclectic array of acts, from the musical headliners Nubiyan Twist and spoken word events from the poet Jackie Kay, to silent discos and sound baths dotted around the sand.