Cowboys and native Americans from the wild west overtook Bedfords Park, in Romford, on Monday, racing their horses across the plains and designing beautiful headdresses.

The Wild West Monday Funday was organised by Essex Wildlife Trust.

Children from across the borough travelled to the remote location to hone their horse handling and design skills.

To start their day they made extravagant arrow heads, which were attached to sticks and used with deadly efficiency to pop bubbles.

After passing this first test of skill and precision budding cowboys had to learn to lasso a large horse, in this case a spacehopper, using a hula hoop attached to a piece of string.

After catching themselves a trusty steed entrants lined up to race their horses across the desolate landscape.

Finally it was time to get creative and make headdresses decorated with items found in the park.

Lucy Addison, seasonal education and community officer, said: “Everyone really enjoyed it and had lots of fun - they particularly enjoyed the horse racing!”