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Children are the future

Pauline McLean | 17:34 UK time, Sunday, 9 August 2009

The Pleasance managed to rustle up not one but two TV children's TV presenters for the launch of their new Kidzone on Saturday morning.

The area - which has storytelling and music sessions as well as child-friendly snacks and lunches was set up in response to the number of parents who complained the Fringe offered plenty of kids shows but nowhere for them to go afterwards.

Cbeebies presenter Andy Day managed to reduce most of the under fives present to gibbering wrecks, while the mums and dads went weak at the knees for former Blue Peter presenter Peter Duncan.

While Andy has appeared at the Fringe before, it's a first for Peter Duncan, whose only previous Edinburgh experience was as Jim Hawkins in Treasure island at the international festival in 1991.

As well as appearing in his own show, Peter Duncan is launching his own campaign to keep the Blue Peter garden. (press reports suggest the garden will become a virtual one shortly)

He and his daughters set to work transforming a corner of the Pleasance into his own homage to the Blue Peter Garden, complete with gravestones for the high profile pets who died during his tenure.

Meanwhile, the - its city centre route abandoned because of the Tramworks.

From an audience point of view, it certainly worked better - plenty of high vantage points and none of the overcrowding we've seen in previous years.

Some performers will take convincing - a few groups dropped out and many of those who would normally walk the route had to restrict themselves to performing in the park at the end.

The weather held too - with the umbrellas serving a new purpose as parasols.

In lesser conditions, it probably wouldn't have had the same atmosphere at all and although no official numbers were available - it seemed to most onlookers that it was down dramatically from the figures of a 100,000 and more we've seen in previous years.

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