THE Eighties were a heyday for Southend's all-singing and all-dancing youngsters.

Each year, children would take part in the Southend Music Festival, which was held every autumn at various community centres and areas across the town.

The event was not just about singing, there was dancing, dramatics and plenty of exciting costumes for the children to dress up in to help get into character.

Each year the music festival saw a wide range of different acts ensuring variety and something different for each show.

There were clowns joking around with fuzzy wigs, pointy hats and of course plenty of face paint.

Other shows saw flower girls with baskets of blooming bouquets and old fashioned clothing along with the classic chimney sweep with flat caps and mucky faces.

The children would spend days and hours reciting and learning music from sheets, musical instruments such as the guitar, stage directions, words and much more.

Angelic little girls stood in rows in their fancy dresses for photo opportunities during the events and stood smiling at their proud friends and families.

The events took place in October at community centres such as the Civic Centre and the Leigh Community Centre.

Our pictures from the Echo archive show participants at the 1984 event.