VIKINGS and panto legend Dame Berwick Kaler played their part as York’s annual Festival Of Angels transformed the city centre into a Christmas wonderland.

The weekend festival featured live ice carving and more than a dozen ice sculptures, including a bust of Berwick, currently appearing in his 35th pantomime at York Theatre Royal, Aladdin And The Twankeys.

Another block of ice, encasing a huge hammer and carved with the logo for next February’s Jorvik Viking Festival, was guarded by a pair of Viking warriors in Davygate.

The block was inscribed with #Ragnarok2014 as part of the countdown to Ragnarok – the Norse apocalypse foretold to take place on February 22.

The hammer, belonging to the Norse god, Thor, was made by Jorvik Viking Centre’s technical team. It was made of wood taken from a tree that stood at the heart of the Coppergate Shopping Centre until earlier this year, and painted silver to look metallic.

Jorvik festival director Danielle Daglan said it was likely the tree’s roots would have reached archaeological deposits under the tree, including rich organic matter from the time of the Vikings in York in the ninth century.

The angels festival, now in its 14th year, took place in the Minster Quarter as well as streets including Low Petergate, Stonegate, St Helen’s Square, King’s Square, Back Swinegate and Davygate.