Tickets are on sale for this year’s Beautiful Alice Festival, with top-name acts like DJ Fabio and comedian Josie Long on the bill.

The St Albans festival became a local success story after starting out as a get-together to remember the eponymous Alice Barnett.

Alice, 19, and her friend Summer Robertson, 21, died after being swept out to sea in South Africa in 2014.

Her mother, Suzie Barnett, started the festival as a tribute to all things Alice.

Suzie said: “Alice was all about love and compassion, bringing friends together, and supporting each other, so all of that is always in mind.

“‘What would Alice like? What colours would shee choose? What music would she like?’”

The first year’s festival, held in a beer garden on a homemade stage, attracted 250 people.

Last year’s drew an even bigger crowd, with 750 people attending.

This year, Suzie and the organisers are hoping for even more, but admit it is “difficult” to attract interest at this time of year.

They are hoping to attract the crowds with performances from Dub Pistols, Backyard Rhythm Orchestra, and DJ Fabio.

TV comedian Josie Long will also be performing on the cabaret and acoustic stage in Summer’s Bar, named after Alice’s close friend.

There is also a Hippy Village, with yoga sessions, massage, and reflexology.

The Festival is supporting several charities this year, as varied as the Cats Protection League and the Future of Khmer Children Organisation.

Each has been carefully handpicked by Suzie, again with what Alice would want at the front of her mind.

Suzie said: “The organisations we support are all the organisations Alice supported.

“She was incredibly enthusiastic about supporting charities from a very early age.

“She was always beyond her years and had a huge amount of compassion, with great clarity of thought about what she thought was right and wrong.”

Alice was, in her mother’s words: “A real character. Once met, never forgotten.”

To find out more information, including on where to buy tickets, visit www.beautifulalice.co.ukThe Festival is also currently running a competition for a local act to win a set at the event.

Six finalists have already been announced, with the winner due to be named on Monday, May 22.