SIMMONS Park was filled with great music and entertainment at the 2015 Okehampton Battle of the Bands Party in the Park — and the event was such a success the organisers are saying it will definitely go ahead next year.

The finale event saw Ten Zero One, Black Static, The Morales, Skyborn and Pseudomorph battle it out on the big stage for the title.

Pseudomorph went on stage last and ended up taking first place, winning a live recording package with EWK Audio and a video shoot.

Tavistock band Black Static came second, winning a slot on the bill of Chagstock 2016. Skyborn won £100 of Project Music vouchers, The Morales won a slot at the Exeter Cavern and Ten Zero One won a physidigi package to digitally produce their own audio or video along with merchandise.

The theme of the 2015 Party in the Park finale was ‘Best of British’, and in line with the theme ‘Who’s Next’, one of the UK’s top The Who tribute bands headlined the event.

This also coincides with The Who’s 50th anniversary in 2015.

To coincide with the theme, spectators were asked to bring their Union Jack flags and embrace the theme with fancy dress.

The competition had been at risk of folding after organisers Chris Hodgson and Ben Boulton, who had given countless hours of their own time to organise the contest, decided to step down.

Their hope that people would come forward to take over the running of the event looked futile after an initial appeal proved unsuccessful.

But following a meeting last October, a new chairman and secretary were appointed, with more committee members joining in November. Ben Boulton continued to help organise the 2015 event alongside new chairman Jay Hadland, Teresa Edwards and Lee Croad.

Jay Hadland, a key figure in the organisation of this year’s event, said this year’s event was so successful the event would go ahead next year.

He said: ‘The Party in the Park this year was amazing.

‘It had the biggest crowd that the event has ever seen. We raised around £1,650 in donations on the night, all from the crowd.

‘The support has been awesome, we can’t quite believe how well it has gone.

‘Organising this year’s event has definitely been hard work but completely worth it. We couldn’t be more pleased with how it has turned out.

‘We will be back next year, for sure.

‘The Battle of the Bands is definitely going to carry on for the foreseeable future.’