FRINGE by the Sea opened on August 3 with a sell-out performance by the Sugarhill Gang and the Furious Five and ended on Sunday with a full Spiegeltent watching Ultimate Bowie.

This year saw the North Berwick festival under new management and now stretching out over 10 days with more than 160 events across a packed programme.

The weather brought people out of their homes and into the tented harbourside shows, as well as onto the donkeys on the beach, following Dave Berry for his daily Walk the Toun (raising more than £300 for the RNLI and Leuchie House) and walking up Berwick Law with East Lothian Countryside Rangers.

The much-extended 2018 programme featured famous names such as former Mercury Music Prize winner Badly Drawn Boy. The Specials frontman Terry Hall held a DJ set charting his history of music and had the whole crowd dancing to every record he played.

Music-lovers from all over Scotland and the north of England travelled to see other acts such as Hipsway and Mica Paris singing Ella Fitzgerald.

Family fun proved to be in great demand. Scots comedian Phil Kay brought his children’s show Gimme Your Left Shoe, although organisers were slightly panicking when they couldn’t find him just before he was due to be on stage.

It turned out that Phil had been out beach-combing and used the shells and stones which he had found as part of the show.

More than 30 youngsters turned up for a beginners’ taster class in stand-up comedy, hundreds of people took part in craft workshops and many practised yoga by the sea.

The two daytime concerts by Broken Records and Bombskare were well attended and introduced lots of children to their first experience of live ‘grown-up’ music.

Many of the book events drew large crowds. McMafia author Misha Glenny kept a packed tent enthralled with insider tales of organised crime, and Sally Magnusson drew people to hear her talk about her first novel The Sealwoman’s Gift.

Illustrator Eilidh Muldoon held a mass colouring event for more than a hundred people at which tea and cake was served. Muldoon, the author of the Edinburgh Colouring Book, had created some special North Berwick drawings for the event.

It was the first time that the festival had staged an ‘In Conversation’ strand, featuring ex-Liberal leader Lord Steel talking to Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson MSP, Roy Hattersley and James Naughtie. All three events were well-attended with lively audience participation.

Ruth Davidson’s comments on Boris Johnson made national news as she called on the former Foreign Secretary to apologise for “offensive” comments he had made comparing women wearing the burka to “bank robbers” and “letter boxes”.

The festival’s new directors – Rory Steel, Niall Middleton and programme manager Claire Smith – told the Courier: “When we took over the reins of Fringe by the Sea we probably didn’t realise the hard work involved in putting on so many shows. "However, it has been the most incredible experience and we cannot thank all the volunteers and ticket buyers enough for all the amazing support.

“Many thanks as well to all our sponsors, including East Lothian Council. Roll on 2019.”