Renfrewshire kids are gearing up for a fun-packed October school holiday – with a full programme of children’s events planned as part of Paisley’s Spree festival.

The annual extravaganza of music, comedy and more – on between 9 and 17 October – will also include family fun at various venues around the town.

Highlights taking place while the schools are off include daily Let’s Do Robotics with Lego workshops in the specially-erected Spiegeltent in County Square.

The free drop-in workshops, a popular feature of last year’s festival –will allow visitors to build and programme creatures which move using the latest Lego robotics technology.

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Also in The Spiegeltent is another set of free daily drop-in workshops based around popular fantasy video game Minecraft, where visitors have to storm a Spree castle in search of treasure.

Other children’s events taking place during The Spree include:

– Jurassic Adventures (Saturday 17 October, Paisley Town Hall, tickets £12) which was created by the team behind Disney on Ice and is set on a magical island, which will transport families back to a prehistoric age;

– Oor Scotland (Thursday 15 October, Paisley Arts Centre, £5), which will see entertainer Andy Cannon retell Scotland’s history with lots of music and audience participation;

– Bookbug (Monday 12 and Wednesay 14 October, The Spiegeltent, free), staff fropm Renfrewshire Libraries lead babies and pre-school children along with nursery songs and action rhymes;

For more information, a full list of dates and times, or to buy tickets for any of these shows, visit www.the.spree.co.uk

Big-name music acts starring at this year’s Spree include Idlewild, the RSNO, Karen Matheson, James Grant, Barbara Dickson, Aidan Moffat, Horse McDonald and the Khartoum Heroes featuring King Creosote.

There will also be comedy from Des McLean as well as two Best of Scottish Comedy nights run with The Stand Comedy Club.

The festival is run by Renfrewshire Council as part of the build-up to Paisley’s bid for UK City of Culture 2021.

Renfrewshire Council Leader Mark Macmillan said: “The Spree programme has something for people of all ages – and I would encourage parents to check out the full programme as there is plenty to help keep kids occupied during the October week.

“The Spree is now in its fourth year and in that time has fast established itself as a must—not-miss date on the area’s cultural calendar.”

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Founder of Paisley.org.uk in 1998 and constantly strives to change peoples attitudes to the town, Brian is a self described Paisley Digital Champion who promotes Paisley via any means necessary. You can also follow me on X