THE world's largest drawing festival will return to Egremont this month, as a series of events take place across the globe.

Florence Arts Centre welcomes The Big Draw on Friday October 28, as the month-long programme reaches its conclusion.

Following a high-profile launch at the Bodleian Libraries in Oxford last year, thousands of Big Draw Festival events took place in 26 countries on seven continents, and returned once again this month.

The theme this year celebrates steam, as part of the arts education charity's campaign to give arts parity with other subjects and turn STEM to STEAM: Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths.

The Egremont venue will be welcoming artist Beth Ward, who will guide artists of all ages through the creative process to draw on this year’s theme.

Artists of all ages and abilities are welcome to take part, and a selection of the work created will form part of an exhibition in the Florence Gallery.

The Big Draw at Florence Arts Centre takes place on Friday 28 from 11am to 4pm. Entry is free and you can drop in at any time, as no booking is required.

This year’s Big Draw forms Florence’s wider activities for families this October, as part of the nationwide Family Arts Festival. To coincide with this year’s theme, and to provide some inspiration, the venue is presenting a free double bill of the family film favourites Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs 1 and 2, on Wednesday 26 and Thursday 27 respectively, both at 2pm, plus a Photography for Beginners workshop on Saturday 22 for families with older children, and a Halloween Shadow Lantern Workshop on Sunday 30.