THOUSANDS of lights illuminated Southampton as a popular event returned.

People flocked to Westquay’s Esplanade to enjoy the return of the Festival of Light.

The historic city walls provided a backdrop for a series of interactive light installations.

This year a diverse set of themed installations centred around some of the planet earth’s most spectacular natural phenomena.

Among the pieces there was once called Sunrise, an abstract sunrise made of 4000 points of light on strands; Planetarium, which was inspired by the ancient concept of Planetariums and Control No Control, that invited guests to use their hands and body to act on its sound and graphics.

This year there were also two sets of five bicycles facing each other to give residents the chance to use pedal power to project beams of light to the opposite side in an attempt to defeat their opponents.