People have been learning about Roman hairdressing, early medieval weaving and doctoring, papermaking and hooden horse decorating during a week celebrating ancient crafts.

The Swale Wassail Festival has been on this week at The Forum Shopping Centre sharing Sittingbourne’s heritage and telling the stories of those who were here before us.

The town is home to Kemsley Mill, the largest mill for recycled papers in the UK which last year marked its centenary, and the festival has been offering free papermaking workshops, held by heritage group AMTeC CIC.

The organisation aims to help communities learn about archaeological sites, finds, and historic buildings.

They also give support to people suffering from loneliness and help other organisations put on their own heritage community projects.

Dana Goodburn-Brown from AMTeC CIC said: “We offer a wide variety of creative and skills-building workshops and demonstrations relating to heritage, such as this papermaking, and other festival events and activities woven into our town’s fabric.

“We pride ourselves on giving opportunities to people who might not otherwise have a chance to encounter these specialist heritage activities.

“We also love to grab moments to chat about how our ancestors lived, used the materials, skills and inventiveness available to them, and what that means to us today.”

The workshop, which took place on the first day of the festival, gave people the chance to create paper from recycled cotton fabric.

A grant of £5,000 from the Town Centre Action Grant went towards buying the equipment.

Councillor Monique Bonney said: “Our Town Action Grant is working towards improving our town centres and funding community events which will draw people to our high streets and help create a sense of pride in our towns and heritage.

“This event perfectly aligns with these goals; The Forum is very central and the workshops themselves are highlighting an important piece of Sittingbourne’s history.”

The Hands on the Past: Make it Last - Swale Wassail Festival runs until February 22, continuing the tradition of wassailing, where you wish people prosperity.

The free sessions include Roman hairdressing, early medieval weaving and doctoring, singing, poetry writing, blacksmithing and decorating hooden horses, an East Kent winter custom dating back many centuries when villagers carried a wooden horse's head through the streets.

These are taking place in The Forum throughout the week culminating in the Wassail Parade and Swale Wassail Day on Saturday (February 22).

The papermaking workshops received £5,000 from Swale Borough Council’s Town Centre Action Grant, funded by the UK government, to buy the equipment needed to run the workshops with another £10,000 government grant to deliver the rest of the festival.