Picture special: Sussex town captures spirit of classic Bond movie with Voodoo Festival

People turning a corner in the streets of a Sussex town on Monday evening were likely to have encountered a strange procession of characters with blazing torches, carrying a coffin and led by a New Orleans style brass band and drummers.

The annual Halloween Voodoo Fest was taking part in Hastings Old Town and created scenes reminiscent of the Roger Moore Bond movie Live and Let Die, filmed in New Orleans and Haiti.

Colourful characters taking part included a sinister clown figure and a skeleton faced representation of Baron Samedi – guardian of the dead in Voodoo rituals.

The festival saw the band playing a set in the Lord Nelson pub before leading the procession to the Albion pub where an evening-long costumed music and dance celebration took place, featuring the band and DJ Dave Read.

The event is organised by the same team that hold the Fat Tuesday Festival in Hastings every February, which takes place over five days and has earned the reputation as Britain’s biggest Mardi Gras celebration.

Albion landlord Bob Tipler said: “Just a normal Monday night here in Hastings where people love to dress up and party.”

Pictures by Sara Louise Bowrey.