RANDOM surprises have been promised for this year's Dorchester Festival.

Bands cropping up in unusual places, last minute performers and the vagaries of the late spring weather are all set to combine to make this festival one of the most exciting yet.

A late addition to the festival programme is an appearance by best-selling Beaminster author Lynn Reid Banks, who will be running storytelling sessions for children.

The author of The Indian in the Cupboard and The L-Shaped Room will be in the Borough Gardens between 2pm and 4pm tomorrow and on Monday.

Her classic children's novel, The Indian in the Cupboard, has sold more than 10 million copies worldwide and was made into a successful feature film. Born in London, Lynne was an actress in the early 1950s and later became one of the first women TV news reporters in Britain. She has written 40 books - her first, The L-Shaped Room, was published in 1960.

Performance storyteller, writer and educator David James will also be story telling on Bank Holiday Monday between 2pm and 4pm in the Borough Gardens. David is known for his storytelling, creative writing and drama workshops for people of all ages - he even helps teach teachers!

Festival organiser Simon Barber, whose band The Gilbert Quick Orchestra is playing in the Borough Gardens on Bank Holiday Monday, said: "It is going to be a fantastic festival. Just walking round the town, you can feel the support of everyone.

"There seems to be a lot of excitement and more of a buzz than there was last year."

A massive part of festival events are the two free days of family fun. Tomorrow's Fiesta Cubano starts with a Samba Band processions which leaves the Corn Exchange at 12.30pm before winding its way up to the Borough Gardens where there will be entertainment for all until 6pm.

Then on Monday, the gardens are the venue for Bank Holiday in the Pleaure Gardens, eight hours of music and fun for everyone, running from 1pm until 9pm.

This year the festival carefully balances local performers with nationally and internationally known performers and speakers.

Louis de Bernieres, who wrote Captain Corelli's Mandolin, is in the Corn Exchange on Sunday at 7.30pm to talk about his latest novel A Partisan's Daughter. He will also be playing his mandolin with flautist and keyboard player Ilona Antonius-Jones.

Terry Saunders will be on stage in Dorchester Arts Centre today with his missed connections' show, a brilliant blend of stand-up comedy and storytelling.

It is mostly about a woman called Ethel who is obsessed with the I saw you wearing a red coat'-style lonely heart adverts found in newspapers.

"It is all about missed opportunities and what if' situations that we all experience," explained Terry. "I had one once with a woman on a bus and I still wonder whether my life would be any different now if I had said anything to her."

Perhaps the best known festival visitor is actor, director and writer Steven Berkoff, who is holding an actors' workshop tomorrow, followed by a reading from and discussion about his latest book, the delicious memoir and travelogue My Life in Food.

He said: "I wrote the book because I felt it was the one area of my life that I have not written about in any great detail.

"It occurred to me that food is such a vital part of one's life, a rich seam that I haven't yet explored."

The book takes the reader through Steven's life and the delicious foods and varied eateries that have struck a chord with him over the years.

"I realised also that when something has moved me a great deal or given pleasure, I want to keep it and cherish that experience. I like to write about it, whether it is love, or a journey or nature. It gives it value, it gives it a sense of permanence."

Steven added that he has not idea what will take place in his workshop tomorrow afternoon - another of the festival's random surprises!

Steven Berkoff's acting masterclass is at Dorchester Arts Centre at 4pm tomorrow (£14 plus concessions to include his book reading). The book reading, also at the arts centre, starts at 7pm and costs £10 plus concessions if taken as a stand-alone event.

For full festival details and bookings, call the box office on 01305 266926 or pop into Dorchester Arts centre at The Grove, Dorchester.