THE animals may have been marching two-by-two at a Wycombe church yesterday, but fortunately the wet weather didn’t quite turn into a great flood.

Instead children from around the area were taking part in a musical show based on the story of Noah and the ark.

The performance of Noah’s Original Animal Home was at All Saints Church in High Wycombe, as a cast of more than 100 children got singing and dancing.

Pupils from four schools – St Augustine’s, Godstowe, Great Kinghshill and High Wycombe C of E all took part in the event, which formed part of the Wycombe Art Festival.

Liza Phipps, director of the play, originally co-wrote it with Avril Thompson in 1972 for a performance at what was then the Hatters Lane Girls School.

Since then her enthusiasm for the performances has not waned. She said: “I love it – it’s wonderful, great fun.

“The children absolutely love doing it. There’s so much enthusiasm and confidence there. The way we do it is each school has worked on a section of their own and we put it all together. It’s a bit of a gamble, but they have been fantastic.”

One song had children dressed in animal costumes parading through the church, two by two, with any other youngsters in the audience invited to join in.

At the end of the performance was a collection in aid of the Wycombe Night Shelter project.